Video: George Clooney opens up to TODAY’s Hoda Kotb

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George Clooney on having kids in his 50s: 'I found the right person to have them with'

The Oscar-winning actor opens up to TODAY’s Hoda Kotb about his role of a lifetime — as a husband and father.




By Ree Hines

By the time George Clooney hit 50, he was already an Academy Award-winning actor with dozens of film and television credits to his name. He’d also established himself as a respected director, producer, businessman, philanthropist and activist.
He had it all — or so he thought.

But during a recent sit-down with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, Clooney said that looking back on those days now that his wife and children have entered the picture, he can see how “incredibly empty” his life was despite the success.
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The reason? Fatherhood has given him so much more than Hollywood did.

“Oh, everything,” he said when Hoda asked for an example. “(It’s given me) a sense of belonging and a sense of home and unconditional love — all the things that you were hoping you could get from a really good career and a dog. You realize that this is a lot more than that.”

Still, even knowing what he knows now about all of the rewards that have come his way with a more domestic life, the 59-year-old said he wouldn’t have welcomed fatherhood any earlier. Because there was one key element about having kids when he did.
“I found the right person to have them with,” he said.

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Amal Clooney and AFI Life Achievement Award recipient George Clooney attend the American Film Institute's 46th Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to George Clooney at Dolby Theatre on June 7, 2018, in Hollywood.Kevin Winter / Getty Images

He married his wife, international human rights attorney Amal Clooney, in 2014, and they had their twins, Alexander and Ella, in 2017. And until then, he had no idea what he’d been missing.

“There are some people, their goal was, ‘I have to have children,’” the star noted. “Mine wasn’t. I wasn’t looking at life, going, ‘My life will be unfulfilled without children.' I felt like I had a pretty full life. Then I met Amal and realized that my life had been pretty empty. And then when you throw these two kids in there, then suddenly you realize how incredibly empty it was.”
With a family, “it fills it all up, it makes it fun.”

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George Clooney reveals the part of fatherhood he enjoys most

And he fills his life with plenty of fun by introducing his children to his own prankish sense of humor.
“My whole job, really, is to teach them really terrible things,” he said with a smile. “I really do enjoy teaching my children to do things that shock their mother.”

For instance, instead of teaching his kids to put some hazelnut spread on a piece of toast or fruit, he’s taught them to load up their diapers with Nutella and even smear some down their legs. Then all they have to do is hold out the evidence for their other parent to see.

“(Amal) goes, ‘OK, wait! Don’t move!’” Clooney said, describing his wife’s panic with amusement. “And then they take it, and they eat it.”


Evidently, after waiting so long to become a dad, he’s really taken those dad jokes to the next level — much to Mom’s chagrin. In fact, if there’s any need for her to dish up discipline around the house, it’s not the kids who have to face it.

“No, me,” he said. “She doesn’t discipline them at all. They don’t need discipline. ... She’s like, ‘Really? That’s what they learned today?’ The worst thing you can do is leave me alone with them for a long period of time because the things they learn are just horrific.”

However, the truth is, Amal doesn’t really have complaints about it.

“We’ve been a team really since we met,” Clooney said. “The most we’ve ever been apart is three or four days, never had a fight, which people always get ticked off when I say. You know, we’ve been married seven years. We have a really wonderful life together. We’re both busy, but we’re both very involved in each other’s lives, which is nice.”