BY GEORGE, HE’S GIVEN AWAY $14m
CLOONEY REVEALS HOW HE SPLASHED THE CASH ON HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS
GEORGE CLOONEY has told how he gave 14 of his closest friends a million dollars each – and had to drive the cash through Los Angeles in the back of a disguised van.
The Hollywood actor, 59, had just starred in 2013 sci-fi thriller Gravity, which proved much more successful than expected, leaving him with a windfall.
He had just met his now-wife – 42-yearold British-Lebanese barrister Amal – and had no plans to start a family. The couple have since married and had twins.
Ocean’s Eleven star Clooney told GQ magazine he decided to shared his wealth among friends who had helped him ‘over a period of 35 years’. He said: ‘I’ve slept on their couches when I was broke. They loaned me money when I was broke.
‘They helped me when I needed help over the years. And I’ve helped them.’
The star realised ‘without them I don’t have any of this’, adding: ‘We’re all really close and I just thought basically if I get hit by a bus, they’re all in the will.’
To collect the $14million, Clooney went to an undisclosed location in Los Angeles
where they had ‘ giant pallets of cash’. He loaded up an old van marked ‘Florist’.
With the cash in 14 bags, he invited his friends to his house the next day. ‘I held up a map and I pointed to all the places I got to go in the world and all the things I’ve got to see because of them. And I said, “How do you repay people like that?”
‘And I said, “Oh, well: How about a million bucks?”’
Clooney recalled ‘ the fun part about it was’ he got married almost a year to the day later.