The Real Reason George Clooney And Sandra Bullock Never Dated

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The Real Reason George Clooney And Sandra Bullock Never Dated

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BY BRANDON BOMBAY/APRIL 1, 2021


George Clooney and Sandra Bullock have both been Hollywood A-listers for so long that it's hard to remember a time they weren't mainstays in the movie business. The two collaborated on the 2013 hit film Gravity, and many fans observed their undeniable chemistry while they made the media rounds.

After playing Debbie Ocean — the sister of Clooney's Danny Ocean — in Ocean's 8, Bullock revealed to InStyle that the two had known each other long before working together, and even before either of them became stars. "George and I have known each other since before we had careers," she told the publication in May 2018. According to the Speed star, her and Clooney's relationship has endured several iterations. "We've seen each other through many facets and stages of life," she told Canada's etalk in 2015 (via PopSugar). "And the nice thing is we still like each other at the end of it, we still admire each other."

Clooney has always been quick to praise Bullock when asked about their friendship. "Sandy is exactly what she appears on-screen, an incredibly charming woman who's really just fun to hang out with," he said during a 2014 "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit (via SheKnows). "Very smart and centered, even though she does drink a lot," he jokingly added. The Tomorrowland star told Entertainment Tonight (via Parade) in 2013 that he was one the one Bullock usually drunk dialed after having a few cocktails.

The two have an obvious connection, but there's a reason they never became more than friends.

George Clooney would not break this rule
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George Clooney and Sandra Bullock had an instant connection when they drunkenly met at a party before becoming stars in Hollywood. While at the party, Clooney gave a friend of his an ultimatum. "George went to him and said, 'If you don't marry her, I will,'" Bullock recalled to Access in October 2015. The motivation worked, and that friend became Bullock's long-term boyfriend. "So we were together for four years after that, thanks to George," the Bird Box star said.

People learned how the two actors met, but many wondered why they had not tried dating after years of being so close. At a Gravity premiere in October 2013, Clooney clarified why he could never date his co-star. "She was dating one of my best friends. There's a certain bro code, you know what I mean?" he told E! News (via Cosmopolitan).

Even if the Out of Sight actor was willing to break the "bro code," Bullock said she had zero interest in pursuing Clooney romantically. "We've known each other for so long, sexy is gone," she said while appearing on the morning show Daybreak (via the Toronto Sun). "Not that he's not sexy because he is very, very handsome," the actor added.

In 2013, Bullock revealed another reason the two A-listers never shacked up. Telling Jay Leno on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (via Parade), "I think it's probably because we're a little too similar, in all the disturbing ways."