Curious George found more Irish relatives on trip to homeland
GEORGE CLOONEY has spoken of his love of Ireland and also revealed that his friend Matt Damon feels the same after spending several months here in lockdown.
Speaking to radio station Spin 103.8, the Hollywood actor revealed he has more links to Ireland than he previously knew about, after visiting last year with wife Amal and their two young children.
‘I met a bunch of relatives that I never knew I had, which was a lot of fun!’ he told Plan B host Sarina
Bellissimo yesterday.
The actor is currently promoting his new movie The Midnight Sky, a sci-fi thriller which Clooney directed and also stars in.
‘We were there for Easter, it was unusually warm and nice and it couldn’t have been more fun to be there,’ he said. ‘My experience there was so memorable and seeing family was so much fun.
‘Being able to feel your real roots is a really cool thing! My father had been there and visited the family before.’
Meanwhile, speaking about life under lockdown, he told Spin that celebrities are mortals too.
‘We’re like you. We’re doing dishes and laundry and changing diapers,’ he said. ‘It’s nice to wake up with the kids and put them to bed every night. There’s something really special about that, I’m sure it’s a benefit to them.’
Clooney added: ‘If you’re looking for a silver lining in a very dark cloud, I would suppose that’s it. You know there’s all these other elements, my parents are not young; I’d like to be able to visit them and Amal’s parents.
‘There’s a lot of things as humankind we’re dealing with at the moment which is our inability to be next to the people we love and that’s always frustrating.’ Speaking about spending more time with his children, Clooney said: ‘The kids are great, they’re at a great age so it’s easy for us. They’re three years old.’
He also spoke of the secret of his success. ‘You actually have to have a north star,’ he said, ‘and that north star is usually something that you were raised with as a child, probably my parents and the way I was raised gives you a north star that says these are the things that are actually of value in your life – integrity and your friendships and love of your family and your friends, as long as you keep that as your north star it’s hard to get caught up in the rest of it.’
Speaking about the making of his latest film, Clooney said: ‘I was so happy because we’d finish up, I’d get home in time to put the kids to bed usually, because you know we’re working with Caoilinn (Springall, Clooney’s co-star in The Midnight Sky), a nice Irish girl, and we’d have to finish at a certain time because she’s a kid so you can’t work past a certain time.
He also revealed what we already knew about his friend Matt Damon. ‘I talked to Matt while he was there,’ Clooney said. ‘He absolutely loved being there and with Matt, you never know, he could just buy a house there!’
niamh.walsh@mailonsunday.ie
‘My experience there was so memorable’