George Clooney turned friends into millionaires
George Clooney once gifted 14 of his friends US$1 million each. The Monuments Men star’s best pal Rande Gerber has revealed how George once handed out the hefty sum of money to each of his closest friends as a thank you for helping him make it in Hollywood, and Rande remembers being shocked by the gift.
He recalled: “There’s a group of guys that we call ‘The Boys’. George had called me and ‘The Boys’, and said, ‘Hey, mark September 27, 2013, on your calendar. Everyone’s going to come to my house for dinner.’ George begins to say, ‘Listen, I want you guys to know how much you’ve meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life. I came to Los Angeles, I slept on your couch. I’m so fortunate in my life to have all of you, and I couldn’t be where I am today without all of you. So, it was really important to me that while we’re still all here together, that I give back. So I want you all to open your suitcases.’
“Every one of us — 14 of us — got a million dollars. Every single one of us. We’re in shock. Like, what is this? He goes, ‘I know we’ve all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You don’t have to worry about your kids, you don’t have to worry about, you know, school, you don’t have to worry about paying your mortgage.’ One was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family. Rides a bicycle to work every day. I mean these are guys that took care of George, and now he’s giving it all back. And George said, ‘Not only that, I have paid everyone’s taxes so this million dollars is yours.’”
Rande initially refused the money, but George forced his hand to accept it, and so he decided to donate the money to charity.
He added to MSNBC’s Headliners: “I pulled him aside and said, ‘I absolutely am not taking this million dollars.’ Immediately George goes, ‘I’m just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesn’t take the million dollars, nobody gets it.’ ... This is who George is. That was September 27th, 2013. Now September 27th, 2014, he marries Amal. Now that’s good karma right there.”