George Clooney’s kids are growing up away from Hollywood, and that’s exactly how he wants it.
In an interview with Esquire published on Monday, the actor spoke about family life and his decision to raise his kids in France.
“You know, we live on a farm in France. A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life,” Clooney, 64, told Esquire.
The actor added that he was “worried” about raising his children in LA, in “the culture of Hollywood.”
“I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life,” Clooney said. But in France, he added, people are largely indifferent to fame.
“I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids,” he said.
Clooney and his wife, human-rights attorney Amal Clooney, welcomed twins, Alexander and Ella, in 2017.
Elsewhere in the interview, Clooney made light of the age difference between him and his kids.
“The only thing I feel lucky about is that I’m so much older that the idea that my son would be compared to me is pretty unlikely, because by the time he actually will have done anything, I’m gonna be gumming my bread,” he said.
The Clooneys are famously protective of their kids’ privacy.
The actor wrote an open letter to the media in November 2021, urging outlets to avoid publishing photos of their kids due to his wife’s line of work.
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“The nature of my wife’s work has her confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups, and we take as much precaution as we can to keep our family safe,” he wrote.
In a July interview with Glamour, Amal Clooney said she has a no-phone rule for house guests to encourage in-person connection while protecting her kids’ privacy.
“And I would say becoming a parent means you’re more troubled by some of the intrusions. So we do the best we can to minimize any impact on our children,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Clooney has talked about how life in France gives him a sense of normalcy.
In February, he told The New York Times that his farm in France is his primary residence, though he also has homes in England and Kentucky.
“Growing up in Kentucky, all I wanted to do was get away from a farm, get away from that life,” Clooney said. “Now I find myself back in that life. I drive a tractor and all those things. It’s the best chance of a normal life.”
A representative for Clooney did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
Clooney is among several Hollywood stars who have spoken about leaving Los Angeles because of privacy and safety concerns.
During a SiriusXM interview in 2024, Jessica Biel said she and Justin Timberlake left the city to protect their kids from the paparazzi. Since 2018, they’ve lived mostly in Tennessee and Montana.
In May, Lindsay Lohan told Elle that she has fewer worries as a mother living in Dubai than in New York and LA. Lohan moved there in 2014 to step away from the Hollywood spotlight.
