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When it came to naming his and wife Amal Clooney ’s twins—Ella and Alexander— George Clooney wanted to steer clear of “weird-a*s names.” In a new interview with AARP, the Oscar winner, 59, confessed, “I didn’t want, like, weird-a*s names for our kids. They’re already going to have enough trouble.”
“It’s hard being the son of somebody famous and successful. Paul Newman‘s son killed himself. Gregory Peck’s son killed himself. Bing Crosby had two sons kill themselves,” The Descendants star continued. “I have an advantage because I’m so much older that by the time my son would feel competitive, I’ll literally be gumming bread.”
George and Amal, who wed in 2014, welcomed their son and daughter in 2017. The dad of two revealed to AARP that he and his wife write each other letters every couple of months and have continued the romantic gesture during the pandemic. “Even in lockdown, I‘ll write a letter and slip it on her desk, or she’ll write a letter and leave it under the pillow. I’m a big believer in letters,” George shared.
The Midnight Sky director has framed letters from Paul Newman, Walter Cronkite, and Gregory Peck. “I put them in the house. If it were a text, it would feel different. Maybe that’s a generational thing, and maybe it won’t be that way 20 years from now, but for me, somebody sat down and wrote it,” he said.
While George has been keeping the romance alive during the pandemic, he’s also been staying busy staining his home, as well as furniture, and sewing. “I do a lot of sewing the kids’ clothes,” he revealed. “And my wife’s dress that tore a couple of times. I was a bachelor for a long time and didn’t have any money, and you have to learn how to repair things,” the Hollywood star added. “If we were on an island and you had to pick somebody to help you survive, I would pick me.”
On top of knowing how to repair things, George knows a thing or two about pranks, which he’s teaching his three-year-old son. He shared, “I taught Alexander to take a piece of banana, chew it up and then spit it into a napkin. Then stand next to his mom, pretend to blow his nose into it and look down until Mama looks at it. Then eat it. It’s just outrageously fun.”