How Did George and Amal Clooney Meet? All About Their Chance Connection — and Why George’s Agent Knew They Would Get Married

Mar. 15, 2025

American actor and director George Clooney and his wife, Lebanese lawyer Amal Clooney, at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024.Photo:Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

George Clooneywasn’t expecting to meet his wife,Amal Clooney, when he invited a friend over for dinner in 2013.

When the friend asked if he could bring someone else to George’s Lake Como home, the actor agreed and met his now-wife for the first time. In a 2018 interview onMy Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, George called their first meeting “the wildest thing.”

Amal also opened up about meeting George for the first time in her 2018Voguecover interview. “I always hoped there could be love that was overwhelming and didn’t require any weighing or decision-making,” Amal said. “It’s the thing you have the least control over. Are you going to meet this person? I was 35 when I met him. It wasn’t obvious that it was going to happen for me. And I wasn’t willing or excited about the idea of getting married or having a family in the absence of that.”

The pair are more intertwined than ever since getting married in 2014. Two years later, they established theClooney Foundation for Justice, which works “to hold perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable for their crimes, and to help victims in their fight for justice,” per their website. And in 2017, they became parents, welcoming twins Ella and Alexander.

George toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2017 that he knew Amal was the one almost immediately. “We were a team from right off the bat. Immediately, we felt we were just happy, and we have been happy ever since,” he said.

George and Amal celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in September 2024 and a few days before, at the couple’s annual charity event, the actor told PEOPLE about their special plans.

So, how did the couple initially kick off their relationship? Here’s everything to know about how George Clooney met his wife, Amal Clooney.

Amal and George Clooney met at his home in Italy

Amal Alamuddin and George Clooney attended the Celebrity Fight Night in Italy benefiting The Andrea Bocelli Foundation and The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center Gala on September 7, 2014, in Florence, Italy.Andrew Goodman/Getty Images

Andrew Goodman/Getty Images

OnMy Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, George explained that when he met Amal, she had been visiting Italy. During her stay in July 2013, a mutual friend of Amal and George’s brought her to George’s villa in Lake Como.

He added, “I got a call from my agent who called me and said, ‘I met this woman who’s coming to your house who you’re gonna marry.’ The funniest thing was my mom and dad were visiting, so my parents were there, and we just talked and we stayed up all night talking.”

In 2017, George toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat he was immediately taken with Amal. “I thought she was beautiful, and I thought she was funny and obviously smart,” he said, jokingly adding that she probably thought he was “old.”

After meeting, Amal and George Clooney became penpals

Amal Clooney and George Clooney attend “The Tender Bar” premiere during the 65th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 10, 2021, in London, England.Neil Mockford/GC Images

Neil Mockford/GC Images

In a conversation withThe Hollywood Reporterin 2017, George said, “[Amal] sent some pictures from when she was here, and we were writing each other, emailing, talking, mostly about what was going on in each other’s lives.” He continued, saying that “over a period of time, it became clear we were more than just friends.”

Now, letter writing is a tradition the Clooneys maintain. As the actor toldDrew Barrymorein 2022, “I started writing her a bunch of letters … We still write letters. We leave them on the pillow.”

Amal and George Clooney went on their first date in London

Amal Clooney and George Clooney attended the DVF Awards 2023 on August 31, 2023, in Venice, Italy.Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

George told the story of his first date with Amal onThe Drew Barrymore Showin 2022.

“She was living in London and I went to London to score a movie. And I thought, if you’re ever gonna impress anybody, it’s at Abbey Road with a 150 piece orchestra,” he said of their October 2013 date. “I called her up and said, ‘You want to come see and visit over at Abbey Road?’ ”

George went on to explain Amal’s response: “She’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m at a meeting at the Muslim Brotherhood right now and I’ll come right over.’ Because she was in the middle of trying to re-do a constitution … Her life and my life areverydifferent.”

TheWolfsstar toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat the date went well and their relationship grew quickly.

“That was a good first date. Then we went for dinner,” he said. “It was one of those places that was incredibly hip and chic. And when we came out, there were 50 paparazzi there. But she handled it like a champ. And pretty quickly, things escalated once I was in London.”

Five months after meeting, Amal and George Clooney traveled to Kenya together

George and Amal Clooney are present at the “Ticket To Paradise” event on September 07, 2022 in London, England.Joe Maher/Getty Images

Joe Maher/Getty Images

In early 2014, George and Amal took a trip to Kenya where they went on a safari. “Amal loves giraffes; they’re her favorite animal,” George toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “She went to this place called Giraffe Manor, where the giraffes stick their heads through the windows and kiss you.”

He told the outlet that once he returned to Los Angeles, he showed a photo of Amal to his friend, Ben Weiss. “I had a picture of her, looking back, smiling at these giraffes,” he explained, “And I said, ‘I think I’m going to ask her to marry me.’ ”

In September 2024, right before their 10th anniversary, George and Amal held their annual foundation charity event and told PEOPLE about their deep connection.

“I would support anything my wife is involved in,” George said. “She’s always on the right side of history, and I’m always so proud to be in the same room with her no matter what.”

George Clooney proposed to Amal after less than a year of dating

Amal Clooney and George Clooney attend the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s “The Albie Awards” on September 28, 2023, in New York City.Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Although he planned the whole evening, George said onThe Drew Barrymore Showthat his proposal to Amal was a “disaster.”

When Amal reached for the lighter, she saw the ring and said, according to George, “There’s a ring in there,” not picking up on the fact that he was proposing.

But, as George told Drew, “We pulled it off.”

Amal and George Clooney married in 2014

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin sighting during their civil wedding at Canal Grande on September 29, 2014 in Venice, Italy.Robino Salvatore/GC Images/Getty Images

Robino Salvatore/GC Images/Getty Images

“George and Amal radiated love all night,” Amal’s mother, Baria, told PEOPLE. “The wedding was so unbelievably special, it was legendary. These three days – the friends, the families, the atmosphere, everything – will stay with me all the rest of my life.”

In 2018, Amal delivered a speech at theAmerican Film Institute Awardsto commemorate George, who was being given a Life Achievement Award. Throughout her speech, Amal spoke to her husband’s character, making it clear why she continues to be so smitten with him: “He is a gentleman in every sense of the word and in a way that seems so rare these days and, perhaps, even outdated.”

Congratulating him on the honor, she continued, “I am so proud of you, my love.”

Amal and George Clooney became parents in 2017

Executive producer and director George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, arrive at the premiere of “Suburbicon” at the Village Theatre on October 22, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Three years after their wedding, on June 6, 2017, Amal gave birth to twins, Ella and Alexander Clooney.

Onraising two children at the same time, George said onGood Morning Americain 2023, “When you have twins and you’re raising [them] the same time, the same way, and they’re completely different human beings, you realize how little say you have in who they are.”

In her American Film Institute Awards speech, Amal shared that “seeing [George] with our children, Ella and Alexander, is the greatest joy in my life.”

source: people.com