George Clooney

George Clooney has explained the story of how he gave his 14 closest friends $1 million each, in cash. In 2013, when Clooney was 52, single, and preparing to appear in the space thriller “Gravity,” which became a hit that year, he came up with a special way to thank 14 of his closest friends for their support through the years, giving them $1 million each.

In a recent interview with GQ, Clooney said that he was trying to think what to give his friends who helped him through his tough times. “I thought, ‘what I do have are these guys who’ve all, over a period of 35 years, helped me in one way or another,” 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 over the years. We’re all good friends. And I thought, you know, without them I don’t have any of this. And we’re all really close, and I just thought basically if I get hit by a bus, they’re all in the will.” Clooney rented an old van that had “Florist” written on the outside, loaded up 14 Tumi bags each with a million dollars in cash, a move reminiscent of his Ocean’s franchise, and invited his friends over to his place.

He said, recalling the day: “I just held up a map and I just pointed to all the places I got to go in the world and all the things I’ve gotten 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?’ ”

One year later, almost to the day, he married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin — they had met just before the million-dollar giveaway but were not dating. Since then he has become a father to twins Ella and Alexander and now has even more dollar signs to his name.

The “Ocean’s Eleven” actor went on to say that marriage changed him “because I had never been in the position where someone else’s life was infinitely more important to me than my own. You know? And then tack on two more individuals, who are small and have to be fed.”

In the GQ profile, Clooney also revealed one of his reasons for stepping back from acting in recent years. “I would generally rather spend time with Amal than do anything else,” he said.