George Clooney says his eight-year-old twins are growing up in France because life there feels calmer, safer and more grounded than the world that would surround them in Los Angeles. In a new magazine interview he describes moving his family to a farm and watching his children thrive with chores, shared meals and fewer screens, framing the choice as a way to avoid the paparazzi culture and celebrity comparisons that shadow kids in Hollywood. The comments circulated widely on October 7 after they were picked up by multiple outlets.
Clooney and his wife, human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney, have long guarded the twins’ privacy, declining to publish their photos and asking media not to identify them. He reiterated that concern in discussing why he did not want his children “walking around worried about paparazzi,” saying the French countryside gives them a level of anonymity and routine he believes would be hard to sustain in Southern California. The couple welcomed Ella and Alexander in 2017.
The family’s base is a wine estate in Provence purchased in 2021, part of a property portfolio that also includes homes in the U.K. and Italy. Local reporting has documented security upgrades around the French residence, underscoring how privacy weighs on decisions by high-profile families relocating to Europe. The actor links the rural turn to his own Midwestern upbringing, saying the day-to-day of farm life offers the best chance at a normal childhood.
Clooney’s remarks arrive amid renewed debate over how public exposure shapes celebrity children, and follow recent examples of famous parents moving abroad or outside entertainment hubs to limit constant visibility. He stops short of criticizing Los Angeles directly, but contrasts the “fame-centric” environment with the slower rhythms he finds in France, pointing to school, activities and family time taking precedence over industry chatter. The portrait adds context to sporadic sightings of the family during summers in Europe while the actor continues film and producing work.
