George Clooney, his wife Amal, and their 8-year-old twins have obtained French citizenship.
An official decree in France’s government gazette made the Clooney family lawful citizens on Monday. The Michael Clayton star is the latest in a line of American celebrities, including Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres, to take up permanent residences in other countries.
Angelina Jolie is reportedly looking to leave the country as well when her youngest children, twins Knox and Vivienne, turn 18 in July.
Father Mother Sister Brother director Jim Jarmusch is also considering France as “a place that will allow me to escape the United States,” per comments he made Friday on France Inter Radio.
Though their citizenship only just became official, the Clooneys have already made the country their home, living on a farm and former wine estate they purchased in southern France in 2021.
Last December, the Jay Kelly star praised the country for its privacy laws, which keep a tight leash on the paparazzi.
“Here, they don’t take photos of kids,” Clooney told RTL Radio. “There aren’t any paparazzi hidden at the school gates. That’s number one for us,” he continued, also praising “French culture” and the language, though he admitted “I’m still bad at it after 400 days of courses.” Though George, 64, is still learning, Amal, 47, an international human rights lawyer, is fluent in French.
In October, Clooney doubled down about how much better life was for his family in France, particularly for the couple’s children, Ella and Alexander.
“They have a much better life,” the two-time Oscar winner told Esquire about keeping his children out of the spotlight. “I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.”
In “France—they kind of don’t give a s--t about fame," Clooney continued. “I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”
France’s stricter privacy laws not only prohibit the press from snapping and publishing photos of famous minors, but also deem some spaces off-limits for taking photos at all—for instance, when one is inside a car, which in the U.S. is considered fair game.
France strengthened its anti-paparazzi laws in 2000, three years after Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris while attempting to evade photographers. Even then, it was Clooney—who was starring in Batman & Robin—who held the media to account for the princess’s death, and held a fiery press conference to call out the media’s role in her death.
Clooney also gushed about the family’s farm life during the October interview, saying it keeps their kids grounded. “A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid, I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for [the twins], it’s like—they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in.”
