Enquirer: George Clooney wonders how his ‘Amal Experiment’ went so wrong

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This week’s National Enquirer has a pretty funny story that seems ripped from the comment section here at CB. The gist is that George Clooney’s Grand Amal Experiment has gone sideways, and he wasn’t expecting the whole “America’s Last Bachelor Finally Marries His Equal” to blow up in his face quite so spectacularly. Which is what we’ve been saying all along? Especially in the wake of the epic box office failure of Tomorrowland, Team Clooney is almost definitely trying to figure out where their strategy went wrong. Some highlights from the Enquirer’s story:

His latest movie ‘Tomorrowland’ is a disaster, his political dreams are fading and now George Clooney is blaming wife Amal!

“George has had enough,” dished a source. “The Amal Experiment has backfired badly and he’s looking for a way out. George thought that Amal would help him fulfuill his dream of running for office and, maybe one day, becoming president.”

Instead, Amal’s morphed into a red carpet darling, and George feels her connections have thrown cold water on his political ambitions.

“It’s a nightmare for George,” said one source. “Suddenly, he isn’t getting calls from DC movers and shakers and believes Amal’s to blame. Instead of being like Bill and Hillary Clinton, they’ve become like Kim and Kanye!”

Even worse, George feels that Amal’s also ruined his Hollywood A-list status.

“He thinks she’s damaged his box office appeal… he actually believes she’s made him a laughingstock among his peers!”

Some Hollywood insiders have quipped the couple should do a reality show, “Keeping Up with the Alamuddins.”

Desperate to regain his star status, George will take his wife back to England when renovations at their new home are completed. “George is going to have a house-warming party, and carry Amal over the threshold. Then he’s going to leave Amal on her own in that big old mansion, while he hightails it back to America to rebuild his image!”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition]

My take: while it does feel like the Enquirer is rather gleefully (and hilariously) taking down the Alamooney marriage, they’re not entirely wrong. I think George really believed this whole marriage thing was going to play out differently. He believed that everyone would buy the image of Amal that his press people forced on media outlets like People Magazine. He believed that Amal was going to be seen as this shining beacon of political legitimacy. Instead, many people are like, “Wow, she’s really spending a lot of money on clothes” and “she sure loves to pose for the paparazzi.” After getting out of his comfort his zone of wrestlers, waitresses and Vegas party girls, George wasn’t expecting his lawyer wife to be just the same kind of thirsty, wannabe fashionista as his previous girlfriends.

Now, all that being said… George could easily rework the strategy by doing one simple thing: knocking up Amal. There’s nothing better for an image makeover than a baby.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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262 Responses to “Enquirer: George Clooney wonders how his ‘Amal Experiment’ went so wrong”

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  1. Kiddo says:

    I have mentioned that I can’t read before, so just reiterating to include that as a precursor, but I read ‘anal experiment’, twice.

    • Hawkeye says:

      I like what I’m reading :p

    • dr mantis toboggan says:

      That’s exactly how I read it at first

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      LOL, Kiddo! I imagine that happens to her a lot, poor thing. Amal is actually Arabic for Hope and is a common name for boys and girls in the Mideast. I flunked out of one of those fancy total immersion Arabic programs as a student, but Hope is my middle name, so all the faculty were like, “ooooh, AMAL” when I introduced myself. I always hear her name in a super-enthusiastic teacher voice now.

    • Aussie girl says:

      Well I just laughed my arse off!!!! George wonders why his anal experiment went so wrong! That is gold.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      Ok…I will say it because I am a terrible person…

      Something tells me George has done more than just experiment with anal.

      No need to call security! I will see myself out.

    • GPSB says:

      Oh thank god. I was worried it was just me!

    • Julie says:

      that was on his road trip.

    • NewWester says:

      I am glad someone else saw that as well!!

    • Tough Cookie says:

      I read it the same way…I will be laughing about this all day

    • Alice says:

      I love reading CB. Not because I particularly care about the celebs, but because posters are so smart and witty. Keep it up, guys.

    • LeAnn Stinks says:

      LOL!!! Anal? Is that a Freudian slip?

      If there is any truth to this story, maybe George should have done a more thorough background check on his matrimonial beard? Dating beards are one thing, but when marrying one, he should have been a bit more choosy as he had political aspirations.

      Happy 4th all…..

    • Abby says:

      That’s how I read it first too. I was like WHAT? click.

    • PunkyMomma says:

      That’s how I read it, too. Maybe both his Amal and anal experiments have gone wrong. Ew.

    • paranormalgirl says:

      same here

    • Susan says:

      Bahahaha you are like me! There is one of those vape places in town and it’s called “Avail Vapor.” I always see Anal Vapor and wonder to myself why anyone would stick a cigarette in their butt.

      • Mispronounced Name Dropper says:

        You can get high by sticking drugs up your butt. It’s one way of administering if you’re having difficulty finding a vein to inject into. It’s called shafting.

    • Ysohawt1 says:

      George is just figuring out that her public past connections to enemies of the U.S. ,despots and dictators would make him off limits to many in Washington.
      Many said that when they married, she was awful for political ambitions in the U.S.
      It’s true, she is just not a good political choice for US politics.

  2. LizzyFizzy says:

    Is it just me, or does he look suddenly older and more frail in the top photo? What’s up with that?

    • Andrea1 says:

      So true 🙂 I guess the whole thing blowing up in his face added to him aging quickly…… HA

      • qwerty says:

        I think it’s sun damage showng after years of tanning. He spends all his free time in Cabo or at lake Como, probably sipping drinks on the terrace all day long. Never once saw him pale…

    • Sumodo1 says:

      Yes, Amal makes George look old. Being in “Tomorrowland” with children made George look super old. Amal having a baby? George will look like The Crypt Keeper!!!

    • DavidBowie says:

      I was thinking the same thing. Also, I think he is still in a lot of pain from the back injury a few years ago. There is no way he’s carrying anyone over the threshold.

      • lisa2 says:

        You don’t go on a road trip on a bike for weeks if you have that kind if back pain.

      • mary simon says:

        You just pretend to go on a road trip to show everyone that you are a still a macho motorcycle rider – even though you can barely stand or keep your eyes open for very long anymore. Has anybody seen actually seen these guys out there? Any pictures of Randy helping George get on and off his bike? Or perhaps George wearing giant wind goggles riding in a sidecar attached to Randy’s bike?

    • Olenna says:

      That’s how he’s been looking to me for the past year. That Vanity Fair pic of him in the boat from the last thread was such a contrast.

    • Wren says:

      I read somewhere that he injured his back pretty badly awhile back and it causes him a lot of pain. He had the same pained expression on a few red carpets with Stacey Kiebbler too, like he was sucking it up and smiling for the camera but all he wanted to do was lie down.

      So I’m not surprised it seems like he’s getting worse. Chronic pain takes a huge toll on you.

    • laura in LA says:

      He’s not supposed to age this much until he actually becomes the POTUS.

    • Karma says:

      He has to me as well. Like she’s sucking the life right out of him.

      It’s weird because it’s happened so fast.

    • lucy2 says:

      He does seem to have aged a lot recently.

      • qwerty says:

        It’s the Cabo sun catching up with him. The real damage done to your skin by the sun exposure shows in the older age.

  3. OSTONE says:

    It is his fault. They had that wedding extravaganza that took a week or it felt like it was a week. Then he would not SHUT UP about this unicorn of a woman, about how in love he was, how she was different “his equal” (which is gross). All of the staged pap shots at the freaking restaurant with dim lighting and they looking at each other adoringly. So I don’t feel bad for George “Buy Casaamigos tequila” Clooney, he can be sad at his lake Como mansion.

    • Andrea1 says:

      +100000000000000000
      WELL SAID

    • Kiddo says:

      She’s more likable than him.

      • nicole says:

        No shes not, she makes me dislike him even more. Hes become more smug than ever.

      • M.A.F. says:

        @nicole- how does SHE make you dislike HIM more? Doesn’t that have more to do with his actions than anything else?

      • Katie says:

        I don’t know. She looks fairly smug in all of those photos

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        No she is NOT more likeable than him. She exudes very little personality and what does show seems posed or smug.
        All we hear about is her law degree, supposed law work, not very much about Herself, her personality. She’s just a pap walk as far as showing personality, she hasn’t shown much.
        George seems to have put his PR Team more on crafting her business image than her personal one. No old friends give of hers appear, her personal past except for relationship w her mum and sis has been off limits. So The Majority of the public only really knows her as George’s Wife, the Lawyer who shows up in designer outfits on redcarpets and the streets of NY& London.

    • polonoscopy says:

      I one hundred per cent agree. If Clooney is sad his marriage of ambition didn’t work out, he can blame himself. To say that Amal isn’t behaving like a proper political wife or that “her connections” are bringing him down is truly ugly and sexist. She’s a free human being, an equal part in their marriage and she doesn’t own him any kind of behaviour or reputation.

      • Wren says:

        I’m also disturbed that this is somehow “all her fault”. Didn’t she have her own high paid career before she met him? Doesn’t she still have one? Why isn’t that the first thing people talk about? Oh, right, she’s a woman. It’s all about how she looks and acts towards her man, her other accomplishments mean nothing.

      • noway says:

        In fairness Wren, the amount of attention she is getting now has nothing to do with her career success, but everything to do with marrying the A-list bachelor for life movie star. She could be the most successful lawyer alive and she still wouldn’t be getting this kind of attention, either as a man or woman unless she was attached George. A lot of things in society are sexist, but in this instance not so much, it is more our celebrity obsessed culture.

        In all honesty, I think this kind of attention is probably detrimental to her career too, but I think she is smart enough to have realized that before hand and she decided to drink the kool-aid anyway. I have to admit, I am a little dumbfounded that the supposed crack Clooney PR team didn’t see this coming. PR fail in addition to box office fail, and I hope they don’t add a baby in the mix to fix it because that could be another fail on so many levels.

      • jenniferjustice says:

        Doesn’t his thinking that marrying her made him a laughing stock say it all? As if he wasn’t before with his ridiculous arm candy bimbos and self proclaimed lifelong future as a bachelor? WTH! He’s always been a ego maniacal fratboy acting man-boy. Amal didn’t do that. He did it to himself. If he thought marrying a legit career woman would make him more mature in the publicsw eye he was just being dillusional cause all we saw was insincere And try hard. Dude is so child-like in his thinking I just can’t. But I guess that’s what happens when you’re surrounded by People who can’t or won’t tell you when you’re acting a fool or that your ideas should be shot down like skeet.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        George shoved the marriage and Amal too much on the public. IMO
        She does come off as a bit cold, smug, and aim so sick of hearing about a lady lawyer. The U.S. Has tons of women lawyers, I’m sick of George shoving his wife on the public as if she is the only woman lawyer to ever exist.

        George since the Amy Poehler Joke at the GGlobes, just seems to be trying way too hard with some image re haul. It’s a turn off.

    • laura in LA says:

      Amal didn’t make him a laughingstock…he did that aaall by himself.

      • nicole says:

        He waited till the last minute when everyone was starting to figure out his relationships were setups, and he was becoming a joke. Then he decided he had to do something drastic which was to marry a smart classy women, so people would take him seriously again. But people cant be fooled as easily as he thought , and we can see when something is genuine or not. He went way over the top trying to sell this fairytail wedding and make Amal out to be better than any other women. Its his own fault and he deserves the backlash that he is getting.

      • wolfie (aka wolfpup) says:

        Can we get HER out of George Clooney’s mess? Probably not (she’s over 30), but we should try.

    • nicole says:

      Ostone, couldnt of said it better, bravo!

    • neer says:

      Yes It’s Clooney’s fault. He is more into what is superficial in life such as his over-the-top weddings/ receptions/parties with Amal & fashion.

      Sure, he is very proud of his wife’s being a barrister BUT it is a real turn-off that he is the one shouting to the whole world on his wife’s accomplishments, it is as if he is making a point, that he finally “leveled-up” in terms of finding his woman. He surely was very much affected with Tina Fey & Amy Poehler’s jokes about his women.

      Also, the Sony hacked-email revealed that GC begged Amy Pascal for protection from bad reviews about box office flop Monuments Men. So he is very much concerned about his image, to stay on his last movie star image.

      GC is not what he seems or appears to be.

      • Emma - the JP Lover says:

        @Neer, who wrote: “Also, the Sony hacked-email revealed that GC begged Amy Pascal for protection from bad reviews about box office flop Monuments Men.”

        Did he? I thought he simply apologized for the film’s poor performance.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        Yes George begged Amy Pascal to not make him a laughingstock basically and protect his image, by making sure his movie was a HIT!

    • nikko says:

      I think George would have won USA if he married Stacey instead of Amal. Also, I would of voted for him as President being single.

      • Jag says:

        I agree that Stacey would’ve helped him in his political ambitions; Amal doesn’t help his image. I’m not sure if I would’ve voted for him, but I certainly wouldn’t have held it against him were he single.

    • Caz says:

      Good one! Couldn’t have said it better.

  4. swack says:

    Somehow I don’t see her becoming pregnant. Don’t know why I feel that way.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      Because the couture houses don’t make maternity clothes? She has worked hard to look like a social X-Ray and fit into sample sizes. She is not going to gain weight now.

    • iheartjacksparrow says:

      I thought George had been “sniped.” Gossip sites have been saying for years that he can’t have children.

      • polonoscopy says:

        George is definitely snipped and if he reversed it… he’s still old. It’s not worth it at this point.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        I can’t see George laying on a skeleton and performing the act. Just can’t.

    • kibbles says:

      I feel that way too. She doesn’t seem like someone who cares to be a mother. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that she would consider it for ulterior reasons (as would Clooney), but she doesn’t seem like she’d have any regrets if she never has children. That alone probably helped her a lot to reel in Clooney who doesn’t seem like a guy who wants to be a father in his twilight years.

    • siri says:

      I would be surprised if she actually COULD get pregnant- to me, her weight seems alarmingly low. However, I don’t think they had kids in mind in the first place.

    • Belle Epoch says:

      SWACK I agree. But there could be adoption or surrogacy. She doesn’t give the appearance of longing for children – and they would totally steal her limelight! Although they could be stashed in England with a nanny and only brought out for photo ops.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        Or maybe they just Don’t want kids? Maybe It’s not on their to do list and they have no desire to do so.

        no biggie.

    • Pandy says:

      She looks too thin to have regular periods.

    • Nimbolicious says:

      I can’t even imagine them having sex. At least not with each other.

    • Wren says:

      She doesn’t strike me as the maternal type either, and it’s not a bad thing. Why can’t a woman decide she doesn’t want kids because she doesn’t want them or wants other things (career, etc) more? Why the “she just doesn’t want to gain weight” bashing? Or “kids would steal her limelight”?

      • swack says:

        It’s not a bad thing not wanting to have children. I have a brother and sister-in-law that don’t have children. I just don’t get the mother vibe from her and that’s okay.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        Yes maybe neither wanted kids. It’s not a big deal.
        I don’t get why some of the public insist that every women in the public eye suddenly needs to be a mother. Some people just don’t want kids.

    • sal says:

      the marriage is definitely about having a kid. And she has to have one to totally secure the dough.

      she’ll bore of him soon enough.

      with no pre-nup, the breakup ought to be epic.

      Him with a kid, though, it won’t make him seem younger or more popular with movie goers and fans. Not at all, in fact the opposite.

      • Ysohawt1 says:

        It’s no big deal if they may not want kids. Many married couples don’t,.

    • nicole says:

      I will be verrry surprised if that happens.

  5. WinonaRyder says:

    Maybe he should have married for the right reasons and not as a career strategy.

    I’ve got no sympathy for either of them. They’re obviously just incredibly shallow people.

    • Jules says:

      This

    • bettyrose says:

      “Married for the right reasons,” which he’s had the legal right to do for two years in California.

      • WinonaRyder says:

        Sorry, not sure what you mean?

      • BearcatLawyer says:

        Gay marriage. That’s what she means.

      • quantum entanglement says:

        ETA: BearcatLawyer beat me to it!

      • WinonaRyder says:

        I see! That went completely over my head. If he is gay I doubt he’d ever come out. Especially if he wants a political career.

      • justagirl says:

        LOL good point, and he can now choose many other locations 😀

      • nicole says:

        Does anyone remember Brad Pitt saying in an interview, that he wouldnt marry Angelina until George would be legally able to marry his longtime partner. At the time it was seen as one of Brads jokes to get back at George, but for some reason I dont think he was joking at all. Does anyone else remember that?

      • siri says:

        @nicole: Yes, I remember, and I also remember George telling in an interview later, that he had to deal with this remark for a long time, because not everyone thought it was a joke. George is always portrayed as someone loving a good joke, but he was pissed about this particular one.

      • M.A.F. says:

        @siri- I get the impression that George is the type of person who doesn’t like any type of joke where he is the topic. He can dish it out but I don’t think he can take it.

      • siri says:

        @M.A.F.: Absolutely true. George isn’t the good sport if it comes to him being the recipient. He’s insecure, and VERY concerned about his image. Just think of how much that Poehler/Fey joke got to him…it’s sad, really.

    • TeaAndSympathy says:

      Exactly what I’ve always thought, Winona. And to everyone else on this thread: Your comments are real zingers! Gosh, I love this site…

      • BearcatLawyer says:

        I love this site for both the stories and the comments!

        I didn’t choose the Celebitchy life; the Celebitchy life chose me.

        [flashes international CB sign: Cheez-Its in left hand, supersize adult beverage of choice in right hand, MAJOR side eye]

  6. Hawkeye says:

    Well, I hate to think to this way, but if his strategy had been to get into politics, he should have gotten married at least five years ago. I also think that it’s pretty unfair to blame his wife for his public image; wasn’t it widely speculated that he went out to find a Serious Person after Tina and Amy basically said out loud what people were thinking at the Golden Globes?

    • Belle Epoch says:

      The “political career” thing makes NO sense to me. Marrying a Druze from the Middle East with shady connections is hardly a way to get votes.

      Does he have business interests in the Middle East? Is he beholden to anyone there financially? Is there any reason someone outside this marriage could “make” him tie the knot? My husband thinks he got in trouble somewhere along the line and someone has something on him, but I don’t know what he could have done – other than be gay.

      • Starrywonder says:

        I agree. He’s not getting elected in America in this day and age. Sad but true.

      • laura in LA says:

        Yeah, I think this idea that he wants a political career has been overblown.

        I mean, someone on George’s team must’ve researched Amal’s background, put 2 & 2 together, and figured out that this does not equal the US presidency…

        Unless he wants a diplomatic appointment to some far flung country, maybe in Africa – or the MidEast?

        How could it all go so wrong. Let us count the ways, George.

      • lucy2 says:

        I agree laura – the only political aspirations I’ve seen about him are from “sources” and tabloids. I don’t know that he’s ever said he wants to run for office, and I kind of think if he did, he would have done so by now.

        I think it was less about politics and more about changing his image. Or, gasp, they got married because they simply wanted to. Who knows.

      • LeAnn Stinks says:

        Thank you Belle Epoch,

        I am not fan of Amug and her shady background either. As I stated above, George should have done his due diligence whether his motive was to run for political office or just re-hauling his image, she was not the best choice.

      • crtb says:

        ITA. I never understood people thinking that he wanted to get into politics. He has even said it himself: “I f—ed too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth,” the playboy actor told Newsweek while discussing his political aspirations. In addition he admits to being an atheist. He married a woman who is Muslim. None of these things would get him elected in this country. Many people are very conservative regarding sex, religion and being a liberal (which her identifies himself as.) I never understood how Trump and Giuliani thought they could be elected president. Both having affairs while married and publically humiliating their wives.

      • Ben B says:

        I agree. (Though, psst, Druze aren’t Muslim.)

    • siri says:

      I actually always thought he wanted her connections to ‘Arab money’, and that market for producing. Or, as @Belle Epoch said, there’s something from his past that someone has to blackmail him…perhaps he frequented some male stripper clubs in Dubai in the past;-)

  7. lisa2 says:

    Is this weird..

    When I see celebrity couples I always think about them having sex at some point. I just don’t see George and Amal as sexual.. I can’t picture them having hot sex.

    maybe that is weird.. Oh well.

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      That first photo of him looking like Squinty Grandpa and her shrinking, bony frame in the gold dress is the unsexiest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine them having any fun, either–she’s busy exercising and he has to be in bed by 8pm!

    • siri says:

      You are not the only one thinking that. I never detected any kind of sensual happening between these two, also not in motion. I get the impression she has a task, and she’s trying hard to fullfill HER part of a deal, but if I look at her unsuccessful attempts to become ‘important’ work-wise since last year, he might at one point really be disappointed by her “delivery”.

    • kibbles says:

      Same here. I cannot imagine George and Amal burning up the sheets. It’s kind of gross trying to even imagine a make-out session between these two. It is obvious this was a marriage of convenience; Clooney really is becoming senile if he thought he could fool the public into believing that they married each other for true love.

      • lisa says:

        it reminds me of when jack donaghy got engaged to the girl from the art gallery with avian bone disease

      • lucy2 says:

        Careful! My bones! 😀

        They don’t seem very passionate to me either, but sometimes people get married for other reasons.

    • jen2 says:

      When I look at them I don’t see passion. Some couples look at each other like they want to get the photos over quickly so they can go ravage each other or they are always undressing each other with their eyes or their smiles say more than words. The heat is just missing between these two. They seem like good friends who want to respect each others space. It could be cultural of course, but that is what it looks like on the surface.

      • wolfie (aka wolfpup) says:

        George has to grow up some day, and so I see him as doing the “right thing” with Amal. She’ll do the right thing because of her “teachings”. No biggies for this two…

      • siri says:

        @wolfie: Do you really think Amal can teach George something?? To me, she seems highly insecure in the ‘social department’, and not very experienced when it comes to day-to-day matters. She studied, then worked, yet still lived with her mother, and her “circle” seems to be people from her work…I think they’re both not grown up, just differently.

    • original kay says:

      I thought that too, but I’ve never found him sexy. good looking, but not sexy.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      Now picture George and Rande Gerber together.

      Much more believable, right?

    • nicole says:

      Lisa2, I agree theres no chemistry between them in any pictures ive seen. I cant even imagine them kissing, let alone anything else.

  8. MrsB says:

    I really dislike how people try and fit Amal into a box. She can’t be a successful and smart lawyer AND love to shop and spend money on clothes?? Why do people think it must be one or the other?

    • wow says:

      Mel, you do make a fabulous point.

    • polonoscopy says:

      I agree. I think it’s pretty shallow for people to write Amal off because she likes clothes. But then, they would probably write her off if she didn’t and looked dowdy. Successful women can’t win.

    • lisa2 says:

      Unfortunately she has been put in the position of a celebrity..(which she is not) but celebrities get put in boxes all the time. If they have other interest outside of acting people give them a side eye. If they are singers and want to act they get a side eye..

      Amal is not a celebrity but she has been focused on as such. We don’t see her work on a daily basis.. I mean the physical part of her work; so no one knows what she is doing. She is not unique. She is in a field where everyone she is associated with is educated and accomplished. But people compare her to celebrities and that is not fair. Being an actor or actress requires other talents that she may not possess.

    • justagirl says:

      I agree, being a successful lawyer & loving clothes are not mutually exclusive. I think Amal gets criticism because she seems to enjoy the attention, posing for the paps while out in cutesy outfits. There are many high-profile people who draw just as much paparazzi focus but they do not pose/acknowledge…they are busy people just going thru their day.

      • Nimbolicious says:

        Yeah…….Amal never strikes me as someone who is just going about her business. She comes off as very calculating– as if the whole point of her existence is to maintain some sort of image; there doesn’t seem to be any higher-minded purpose there. She reminds me of some grand-looking movie lot facade which looks great from the front but there’s really nothing behind it but rusty stilts. In that respect she doesn’t seem to bring anything more to the table than did all of Klooney’s other women. The unicorn horn is definitely just a clip-on……

    • Jackson says:

      I agree. And I’m also not sure what people expect her to do – show up at his red carpet events in an old business suit? Maybe she’s always liked fashion but now has connections and more cash to indulge in the nicer stuff more often? I really can’t fault her for that and I don’t imagine GC does either.
      If GC is looking for someone to blame (for…???) he needs to looks himself in the mirror for signing on to that terrible looking Tomorrowland film. I literally cringed when I saw the trailers for it.

      • yellow says:

        He probably set her up with a stylist and instructed her to go all the way with it, so she could be his “equal” celebrity-calibre style wise.

    • Karma says:

      I don’t think she’s being put into a box.

      Something is off with her. She’s very taken with the attention. And let’s be honest the wrestler wouldn’t be asked/bragging about having the idea to put white leather gloves with her formal dress. But probably widely mocked and put on the worst dress lists. While the lawyer was asked on the red carpet and fawned over, because she’s ‘classy,’ and a fashionista.

      Then to be always searching for the paps when out to dinner to the exclusion of paying attention to Clooney. She makes all his ex-girlfriends seem demure by contrast.

      Finally, all of those complaints about her in reference to her legal career are rather detailed. Her flying in like she’s some super lawyer and only she can save the day. When I never heard these type of things or saw that type of behavior from her before her marriage.

      Frankly, it’s not simply a successful woman can’t be interested in fashion too. There is more going on.

      • Malak says:

        Yes, she is most definitely very taken with the attention she is getting. I think she would probably love a “Keeping Up With The Kloondashians” how.

    • Tara says:

      Well said. People always try to put women in a box. How dare she like fashion and not dress boring. She can’t be taken seriously. Goes to show how shallow people are. This is a woman who is so accomplished, but people want to dismiss her simply because she looks fashionable all the time.

    • original kay says:

      I agree with you.

      what rubs me wrong about Amal, this whole situation, is it kinda played out as a Cinderella story- from George’s side. Not Amal.

      like she used to dress um, well, to me anyway- funny. just off a bit. weirdly. IMO.

      and suddenly he swoops in, a marriage, designers, etc. it’s about George and what he did, not Amal.

      though I do think she loves it. who wouldn’t? all those clothes!

      • Toni says:

        Gloria Aldridge is very attractive,clearly a lady who loves clothes and dresses sharp. But why is she famous? Because she’s one kick azz lawyer that’s why! The only thing I’ve heard about Amal is that she’s ” the hottest lawyer in London. ” She doesn’t seem to mind that her accomplishments are taking 3rd place to being Clooneys wife and her clothes right now. I’m wondering if eventually she’ll get sick of it all.

      • Birdix says:

        Gloria Allred is known for loving the spotlight–for getting the most high-profile cases she can and holding lots of press conferences… Allred is even thirstier than Amal.

  9. HoustonGrl says:

    I like that they described this as an “experiment.” This whole thing has felt staged and phony from the beginning. I don’t know a lot of 53 year olds who get married (for the second time) and turn the marriage into a charade where they act like a fool. Usually, people have more humility, especially since mature people understand that lust fades and marriage takes work. But not our Georgie!

    • SleepyJane says:

      I can’t recall the timeline, but it seemed very rushed to me. Who is going to believe that a consummate bachelor is ready to throw it all away after such a short time? Also, it’s George’s fault if he was pursuing uneducated waitresses. It’s not as if smart, accomplished women never existed before he found Amal. Which is how the media (or George) is spinning this.

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        When he tells stories on Letterman about her watching the Superbowl (I think?) then basketball with him during March Madness and then asking, “are we going to watch a new sport EVERY weekend?” that tells me they barely knew each other when they got married. And probably that she thought she was getting a glam movie star, when he’s really more boring than his image suggests. Who wants to watch sports if they’re not your thing?

      • boredblond says:

        Oh gee, I feel like I should stick up for the exes..the waitress and wrestler both have four year honest-to-god degrees. Certainly not rocket scientists, but made their own $, owned property, had no history of targeting sugar daddies, were independent and by all reports, were nice to others. The pics with their friends remained online..very little scrubbing. The Mrs is a 180..of course her history has been swept from the internet and rewritten..what remains is a grown woman who lived with her mom (with sis in nyc–public records show sis was sued for some rent issue) had thing for guy older/richer than cloon, and looked substantially different (no designer duds or surgeries). If she was his perfect mate, WHY the big redesign? Starting with their conspicuous coupling, you could smell the desperation..everything SO oversold. I’m bothered by her pap walk love and rude behavior toward hotel workers and his mother’s friend..She comes off as entitled and not so nice, cocooned and fawned over by designers and a pr team. This is the worst contract for him since he signed to be batman..and it really shows.

      • Dr.Funkenstein says:

        Yeah, I have to agree on the timeline. It was AWFULLY fast. It’s true that people can meet and develop genuine connections quickly, but when you consider (as earlier posters have noted) the lack of chemistry apparent between them it becomes a lot more difficult to swallow. I mean, he just looks awkward when he’s with her. She looks like she has a relationship with whomever’s taking the picture, but you just don’t get any sense of connection between the two of them. That wouldn’t be true if this was really some case of a whirlwind “love at first sight” sort of affair, where there’d certainly be sparks apparent early on. I’ve always had the curious feeling that I’m looking at people who don’t even really know each other — it’s like he’s posing with one of his fans for a picture, except he looks more engaged and interested in one of those shots.

    • Jan says:

      Yes, “experiment” does sound rather cold and clinical, doesn’t it. I’m glad that the calculating Mr. Clooney is questioning how he went about staging this over-blown farce of a relationship. Hollywood extravaganza anyone? Who would really take him seriously after this debacle? He’s a laughingstock and at 53 years old, he should know better.

  10. MrsBPitt says:

    I can totally see George blaming Amal for all the problems in his life…after all, it couldn’t be that his acting is a bland as plain cottage cheese. Or that his, find a girl, dress her up, date’em and dump’em, lifestyle bothered some people….it couldn’t possible be George’s fault…..

    • quantum entanglement says:

      Preach it, sister! Until he takes responsibility, he’s going to continue to circle the douche drain.

  11. Aren says:

    Even hinting at a baby as an “image makeover” is not only far from funny but tasteless.
    Don’t disappoint me CB, I know you’re much better than that.

    • Willow says:

      She’s just being honest. For a lot of these celebs having a baby is part of an image makeover.

  12. SleepyJane says:

    She needed more publicity for her work, if in fact she truly does work. All street pics taken are pap strolls of her in clothes from Babies R Us.

    • justagirl says:

      THIS. You described it perfectly. She just doesn’t come across as smart accomplished woman who also loves fashion.

  13. Rita says:

    Yesssss, I totally agree that the best way for a man to quench his “insufferable thirst” to be seen as a person of substance in his quest to become leader of the dumbest people on earth who would actually vote for this ass-hat, is to knock-up his poster-child-of-competence……and then blame her when some one as politically savvy as Sarah Palin wipes-up the political floor with his carcass.

  14. Miss M says:

    BS on this…
    1- His team sold the girlfriend rollout (as was done with his previous girlfriends);
    2- The wedding was so out there;
    2- He was too outspoken about their relationship with zero privacy about it;
    3- He can’t take the blame for Tomorrowland. Not only the writing was bad, but the press strategy was wrong;
    4- He needs to stop looking for a woman like his mom (who was a Miss and went to College);
    5- I will never forgive him to make me miss Canalis (who’s expecting her first child with her hunky husband!);
    6- Methinks, his heterosexual side misses Eli (the best suited lady for him);
    7- I can’t believe I said what I said on #6. I didn’t like Eli, but she suited him the most (I said it again).

    • GPSB says:

      #2, over and over. He may as well have been jumping up and down on a sofa, that’s how insanely over the top he became – in stark contrast to what he’s been like in the past.

      P.S. I think Canalis had her baby earlier this year 🙂

    • lisa2 says:

      Well if any other celeb had a movie flop or not do as expected they get the blame..regardless of writing or the press strategy.

      Besides that George is the person the dictated the press strategy. And it was not talking about the movie but about his personal for the most part..and he should take the blame for that.

      • Miss M says:

        Are you telling me that Disney didn’t go along with it?! Disney let him do it…

    • MinnFinn says:

      #8 Amal’s red carpet fashion is very very glam. His image people would downgrade her fashion to supportive-with-her-own-seriously-powerful-career if that was the casting plan for her.

      • Miss M says:

        Still not as glam as Canalis. Actually, many of her looks are a copycat of Canalis. Even her new haircut is…

    • Christin says:

      He led the charge on the engagement-wedding extravaganza (including his relatives and acquaintances in Kentucky using the ‘on his level’ line).

      I still don’t know anything about the movie plot, other than what commenters here have said. His press tour was about wife and married life.

  15. GPSB says:

    “Instead of being like Bill and Hillary Clinton, they’ve become like Kim and Kanye!”

    That’s what happens when you have a ridiculously over-the-top wedding event. I’ve always liked him but that spectacle left a spectacularly unpleasant taste in my mouth. He’s previously seemed like such a low-key guy and to watch the Kardashian-level of fame whoring that went on, well – how can he be surprised by the backlash? He stooped to a trashy level.

    • Miss M says:

      He really fancies himself as some intellectual guy, non?!

      Hahahahahahaha

    • Fa says:

      Also just like Kim she like to be paps with well know designers, remember before Kim got married with Kanye she has difficult to get dress by these designers but after she married everyone want to dress because Kanye & same with George wife she was unknown before but since her marriage to George she’s loving to be photographed with design dress & dine with designers she didn’t get before her marriage so I’m saying she like Kim

  16. wow says:

    I don’t even think a celeb baby could help with these two. Babies only work for likeable celebrities who are genuinely in love with each other. Amal and the Cloonster can’t even manage some semblance of at least “deep like”. They need to master that first . It’s sad when an Oscar winner can’t summon up the appearance of genuine love and affection for his wife.

  17. EM says:

    LOL, the headline had me laughing. Let’s just say I didn’t have the reading glasses on when I encountered ‘Amal Experiment’ and read it wrong.

  18. patricia says:

    While I’ve never understood the initial appeal of Amal, I really thought she had the potential to make an interesting couple with George. Forget the real love and genuine intentions if they’ve ever existed , because in Hollywood is hard to think about them if not as a part of a facade for PR purposes, at lest at the level of stardom George has. But it all started to smell rotten for me when I saw Amal posing for pics: she obviously loves it and is thirsty for attention and the high life. She disappointed me in that sense: I expected a woman with brains would hate and look over her shoulder that kind of life. In short: she’s a famewh*re like all the others.

    PS It all started with those ridiculous ill-fitting gloves at the Globes. Who did she thought she was? Try hard the old Hollywood glam ridiculousness.

    • Nancy says:

      She is no Carolyn Bessette. She isn’t even as classy as Stacy Keibler, the wrestler.

      • nicole says:

        I never thought I would say this, but yes, I would prefer Stacy and Elisabetta. At least they seemed more down to earth, and not going around with their noses in the air like there better than everyone else. Also Elisabetta does work for unicef, I have seen pictures of her in italian mags where she was in Lebanon(of all places!) trying to get vacinations for the children. I have yet to see Amal doing any kind of charity work as she is deemed this great humantarian that we all must look up to.

  19. jen2 says:

    First, NE means take with a mountain of salt.

    BUT, Clooney did take an extended trip with Rande, looked happier than he has in a long time without any hint of back problems and all of this right after the yellow dress disaster in Japan, while he looked like he was in physical pain while proclaiming they would not be apart more than 7 days. The motorcycle trip was at least two or more weeks. I am not in the you have to be seen together to be happy group. And I am definitely not in the “let’s have a baby to save the marriage” group (See Bennifer 2.0). But that circus of a wedding, underwritten by whoever wanted an inside scoop for clothing, hotel, location, was like they said–more like KW and KKW. This had never been like George, who always proclaimed a need for privacy. Amalooney and the infamous pap walks, the constant selling of the perfect equal woman, marriage, model of high end clothing, became a joke on the gossip blogs no matter how hard it was sold elsewhere.

    He will find a way to come out swinging somehow, he always does. He is Clooney and the press loves him (and he has a great publicist, so look for a revamping of the image after the summer Como break). But this, on the surface, looks so tacky and it does read like the story ripped from comments on gossip blogs.

    • lisa2 says:

      Those last pictures of Amal showed her with her luggage. I’m sure she was going to meet up with him.. I guess they are in Italy at this time

  20. anne_000 says:

    If he wanted a more somber image as a married couple, then why did he push so hard for a circus atmosphere pre-wedding? Why isn’t he spending his time doing publicized charitable works here in the US? Community outreach kind of stuff?

    Did he think it would all be like how it went down for Arnold Schwarzenegger when he married a Kennedy relative?

    If he wants to be a politician, then he needs to do more non-Hollywood stuff. All we see him doing is show business publicity.

    • Blue says:

      He probably thought that since he was marrying the smartest barrister in the world the public would respect him more than if he had married an actress or model but his image today is that of an actor who shills vodka while his wife struts around for the paparazzi in expensive designer clothes. Jennifer garner is now available he should divorce Amal and marry her, she would give him the image every wanna be politician needs.

  21. Tinka says:

    I’m not buying this story. She’s always been a smart dresser and aside from all the new media attention is probably living her life as she always has (working, going to members-only clubs with the likes of Stella McCartney …). Haters gonna hate.

    • M says:

      Amal outfits before CLoony was always homely,cheap,crazy nothing like members only clubs goers ‘d wear.
      if she was used to the high life fame,attention,paps wouldn’t take over her head since day 1.
      if .

  22. Jen43 says:

    It’s shocking how his image deteriorated so quickly. He completely miscalculated the appeal of Amal and the public’s willingness to buy whatever he’s selling. The truth is he comes off as a middle aged fool with a high maintanence wife. As a pp mentioned, he should have played the marriage card about 5 years ago. And I say all this as a Clooney fan. I am embarrassed for him.

    • Andrea1 says:

      I agree completely

    • neer says:

      “It’s shocking how his image deteriorated so quickly. He completely miscalculated the appeal of Amal and the public’s willingness to buy whatever he’s selling.” THIS I TOTALLY AGREE!!!

    • Anne says:

      I’m embarrassed for him, too. And, as a fan, never thought I’d say that.

  23. MediaMaven says:

    Looks like his Pygmalion Project didn’t pan out. “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” – Indeed.

  24. Paloma says:

    1. George was already a laughingstock before marriage.
    2. He does not want to run for any type political office, period.
    3. At some point, this marriage thing will grow weary for him.

  25. bread says:

    Has George Clooney ever been in a hit film? A hit because of his appeal to the audience? I can’t really think of any besides the Ocean’s movies, and they were more ensemble pieces with a lot of a megawatt star power.

    • LAK says:

      OUT OF SIGHT

      It also transformed him from TV star to Movie star. Prior to this film, he’d made several other films that were not well received. Big budget films mostly. Couldn’t shake off the TV star label that ER had given him.

      OUT OF SIGHT changed all that. It was a critical and commercial hit and he was finally a movie star.

    • A says:

      O brother where art thou?

      • Christin says:

        I do like that movie. It would have been an even better performance had he done the singing instead of being dubbed, but still an enjoyable piece.

    • siri says:

      I don’t know if it was a hit, but I loved Up In The Air, too. He could basically play himself, but he did it very well;-)

    • noway says:

      A lot of Clooney’s films make money not mega hit blockbusters, but until recently he was the bread and money guy for a lot of movies. Medium budget that turns a good size profit. The Descendants, Up in the Air, Michael Clayton, Perfect Storm, Burn Before Reading are just a few etc.

  26. Tara says:

    That Enquirer story reads as something ridiculous. As for Amal, a poster above said it best. She can’t be an accomplished woman AND love fashion? if she showed up to his red carpets dressing dull, people would criticize her for that.

  27. Montrealise says:

    In the first picture, she looks like the cat that swallowed the canary, and he looks like he’s got a bad case of indigestion.

  28. lucy says:

    Wondering why the photos in the gallery are at the wrong aspect ratio? Anyone else see that (they are stretched too tall)?

  29. Elizabeth says:

    Wow. He really needs to not stand next to Amal when she’s wearing that super-shiny gold dress. The reflection on the left side of his face makes him look like he has major liver damage.

  30. laura in LA says:

    To continue where we left off in the last scene of the Clooney saga…

    After George and Brad have their big breakup on the beach (where Brad yells, “I hate you, drop dead!”), George is left alone on the shore at sunset, where he raises his arms and shouts up to the heavens: “How did my ‘Anal Experiment’ all go so wrong?!!!”

    (Oh, wait, that was “Amal”?)

    Well, in the words of the late great Gilda Radner as Emily Litella…

    Nevermind!

  31. Ravensdaughter says:

    One thing that has been noticeable-the once “Sexiest Man Alive” has aged since he married his equal.
    As for being as fashionista, we all saw that coming-except George, of course.
    No babies! I don’t think either one of them would be good parents-busy, busy, busy. Please, let’s not have yet another “royal” (A-list) couple bring a child into this world who will be raised by nannies.

  32. Miss Jupitero says:

    *Shielding my eyes*

    Ughh… the gloves… the gloves. Turn them off….

  33. Carmen says:

    You can tell in the top photo that he is in serious pain.

  34. chaunceyandstuyvesant says:

    My Amal experiments always went so awry, but then I finally asked my “interior designer” brother for some tips and after giving me a little glass bottle of something to sniff and attaching some contraption to my shower head and losing two hours of my life in the bathroom; I’ve never enjoyed Amal more! My husband is over the moon delighted!!!

    • NewWester says:

      I saw what you did there. My ” interior designer son” had to explain it to me. You are bad!!! Lol

  35. An says:

    The distance in the pictures says it all. Body language doesn’t lie.

  36. captain says:

    This is totally fabricated. How do they know his thoughts and regrets? There are three options: they can read Clooney’s mind, they have a source among his very close friends, with whom he would be discussing such a private matter, or they have a source on his PR team, with whom he’d be discussing how to improve the situation.

    Now, all three are impossible. Otherwise we would get some dirt on Clooney looong time ago. He is very careful ( remember his Sony emails?), and his people are incredibly loyal.

    Now considering the relationship between Clooney and gossip mags, I think someone at NE can’t stand him, cause the article sounds too snarky and spiteful.

    • Anne says:

      Sure, it may not be true, but it says something about how he is perceived now that so many people – myself included – are buying it.

  37. LizzyFizzy says:

    Canalis wasn’t great on Leverage (she had an villainess arc after dating George), but she is very glamorous and they looked ‘right’ together. She’s one of those brunettes with great dramatic features.
    http://magazine.foxnews.com/sites/magazine.foxnews.com/files/styles/700_image/public/Elisabetta%20Canalis.jpg?itok=KuBDWWeL

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      This is George on the 4th of July in 2010–even if these are staged for the paps, the body language is so much more relaxed and he looks so different from today: http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Pictures-Elisabetta-Canalis-George-Clooney-Italy-Over-Fourth-July-9025529

      • Christin says:

        I thought they looked very connected, then I started reading the comments (from over 4 years ago). Sounds very similar to today — people were skeptical this lovey photo set was a setup to promote a movie.

        Some things haven’t changed, I guess!

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @Christin, I agree. He seemed much more physically comfortable with her than with Amal, but then again, he looked healthier, too. Now he looks like he might be in pain and that really tends to make you self-limit your range of motions–no impromptu dancing, hugging, and generally looking affectionate.

        Was it real in 2010? I have no idea. But I didn’t find Canalis to be all that convincing an actress on Leverage and she’s really selling it in those photos. And he is, too. Now at premieres? Not so much. That could be aging taking it’s toll on him, but I do wonder if he was happier back then with more casual relationships than with the “serious humanitarian and married grown-up” image he’s trying to project in 2015. Everyone accuses him of having beards, but he’s doing a terrible job (arguably, much more terrible than 5 years ago) of making it look convincing now.

      • Christin says:

        I actually thought he looked happier with Canalis, too. Don’t know much about her other than watching her on DWTS.

        It has never made sense to me how he did such a turnaround on his permanent bachelor status. And I fully agree, he is less convincing than ever. If he wanted a new GF/beard every two years, then so be it. The timing of this production is very, very suspect.

        Even though he’s older and possibly less physically well, he sold Amal (‘his level’) harder than any other romance. Had he kept it less public and backed off selling her supposedly superior status, it might be more believable.

    • siri says:

      She was a contract as well, but they had fun together, and a real connection as human beings, and it’s visible. Amal and humor….probably shouldn’t be in the same sentence.

  38. Pajala says:

    Didn’t George have malaria? That takes a huge physical toll. With his yellowish palor (pallor?) I have to say that he almost looks as if he’s had hepatitis as well. And the heavy drinking can’t help.

  39. Beezers says:

    It didn’t help that he was exaggerating her accomplishments, and that he brought her up every chance he got, when he should have been promoting his movies, not her.

    Their body language didn’t help either. It looked like she didn’t even want to touch him. He would put his arm around her waist (just for the paps, I’m sure), and her arms were always straight down at her sides. They definitely never looked like a couple in love. That’s why he should have married an actress — at least she could have faked it.

  40. Elfie says:

    I agree with other posters who state that these two have zero sexual chemistry. I did wonder if she’s a beard he’s using to her taken seriously because why else would he have oversold her so desperately. He may be using her for some reason but those pictures of George and Calanis show genuine sexual attraction and chemistry so I don’t think he’s gay.

    I did notice years ago that anytime George was on television with a woman, with rare exception but the vast majority seemed to lose 90% of brain function and acted like giggling morons. Maybe that explains why he was so overexcited to meet someone who used full sentences and kept her brain functioning in his presence and assumed she must be a rare female genius.

    I still don’t get the public sell Amal campaign though. If he wanted to run for American political office he wouldn’t have chosen a Lebenese Druize with questionable arms dealing family members and who represents terrorists and dictators. The worst thing he did was sell her as a professional humanitarian. She is not. Why all the false claims? His pr team need to tell him this is the internet age, truth is not whatever pr lies are printed as true by the media. The media may run the pr approved story but the people can see through it, challenge the lies, find the truth at a click of a button, come on blog sites and wonder what the hell he is up to.

    • Sally says:

      I didn’t understand the Amal campaign either or why she wasn’t good enough and thought they had to polish her resume. She is accomplished but they couldn’t let her run on her own merits. Both him and his PR must still be in the era where a PR could control and create an image, not any more.

      I don’t think he had any desire to run for a political office. He couldn’t handle the scrutiny that comes along with politics. He has a public meltdown if anyone criticizes his beliefs. I think he wanted to be part of a power couple and be revered and respected. Instead, he has turned into a Kim and Kanye level side show. Basically a joke.

      Not a fan of Canalis but they did have chemistry, I think George and Amal look like two asexual people, neither have any appeal, apart or together.

      For someone who spent years creating and protecting an image, he managed to destroy it in a very short time.

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      I don’t think he wants to run for office, either. I think he is smart enough to realize, as Goldie Hawn said in a recent interview with Michael Eisner, that Hollywood careers have phases and it’s better to develop outside interests as you get older, rather than lamenting the lack of acting work. Even Angelina, who is still young, is looking forward and positioning herself as a director.

      And I do think he actually cares about his causes like the Sudan and might have seen what Brad and Angelina have done for NOLA and other causes since they got together and wanted to be part of a power couple with that kind of influence. So, that’s why she was presented as a “human rights” lawyer. The problem is, he went too big–that wedding was like a royal wedding!–and maybe oversold the romance when they don’t actually know each other all that well or have the physical chemistry he did with Canalis. He could actually make it work for PR, I believe, if he was a little more private and mysterious about their relationship. People are more intrigued when they know less, a la JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. You just have to look good and go about your business.

    • siri says:

      Canalis stated in an interview, that her relationship with George was more of a father-daughter one, and I believe that. I don’t think George is sexually interested in women, whereas I don’t think sex plays a huge part in his life anyway. IMO, he’s looking for a friend first, and foremost, also in a woman.

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @Siri, the thing is that Canalis’s English is not very advanced. Her quotes often sound garbled and you can tell she really struggles with speaking English/answering questions on her Ellen appearance–she looks so nervous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz90caP7KF8

        I suspect they taught her lines phonetically on Leverage, too, because her inflections were all over the place and she didn’t seem to stress dramatic words/phrases like you would if you actually understood their meaning in the scene. So, when she calls George “fatherly,” I don’t know whether to take that as a slam on their sex life or as an awkward way of describing him as in-charge of things and generous with his money. I don’t think contracts & gifts necessarily = gay.

        Straight rich men have done this kind of thing since forever. When Louise Brooks was a teenager, she had an affair with Charlie Chaplin (who also liked his women very young and liked to run the show). He gave her $10,000 when he broke it off. She’s quoted as saying she “was a little fool because all the other girls were showing off their furs and I was miffed that he gave me money. I should’ve have saved it and I spent it instead!”

        Of course, I also don’t side-eye the fact that Amal lived with her family before the marriage, since she’s Lebanese. It’s much more common for Middle Eastern families to live multi-generationally or for the single child to live with his/her married siblings before marriage, even in grad school. Living alone just isn’t the norm, especially if you’re a woman. A single friend of mine did research in Egypt and her landlords were always dropping in to see her, I think because they thought she was lonely by herself and needed company. She was about 30 at the time, I think. People would ask her where her parents were or her husband was and this was in the mid-90s!

      • siri says:

        Hi LizzyFizzy, I don’t regard her “fatherly” comment as a slam at their sex life, it just felt like they were most of all friends. And I don’t think that’s bad. Her English is indeed difficult to follow- which makes me wonder how they actually understood each other at all…But one thing is sure: with Canalis, he had a ‘warm’ feel, whereas with Amal, there doesn’t seem to be any. I guess he indeed DID choose brain over heart (I’m not implying Elisabetta is stupid), and it seems to make him grumpy, and unhappy looking. Canalis was also a ‘fun’ person to be around, she loved riding with him on his motorbike, she jumped from his boat into lake Como etc. I don’t think we will ever see pics of Amal in a bikini, and that one photo with George and her on his bike looked like a commercial for biker wear;-)

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @Siri, I SO agree on the warm Elisabetta/cool Amal comment! It reminds me of the movie Mogambo, where Clark Gable is torn between brassy-but-fun Ava Gardner and prim socialite Grace Kelly, only Clooney ultimately picked an aloof Kelly-type. In the movie, it’s the opposite and Gable and Garner live happily ever after–I guess Clooney’s PR team never saw that one!

      • siri says:

        @LizzyFizzy: Wonderful analogy! Clooney made a choice he will regret, sooner, or later. Because he still is someone who loves good food, wine, doing silly things- and I doubt it will ever change. Amal may be be a lot of things (although I personally doubt there’s much substance), but she’s not vibrant like Canalis. For her 37 years, she comes over quite ‘old’, not just from the outside. There also doesn’t seem to be any purpose except for looking good and fashionable at any given moment. A lot of facade, and keeping up appearances. I truly doubt Clooney can handle that in the long run, even though he became more smug than ever since being with her. His PR is dumber than should be allowed;-)

  41. phlyfiremama says:

    So SHE is to blame for his failures? Uh huh #notbuyingit #notbuyingANYofit

  42. zz says:

    Years ago, before they ever got together, Amal had made a Facebook page in which she described herself as the future Ms.Clooney. That was her obsession.
    At one point, there was a rumor that he might have pursued some type of restraining order on a woman who was obsessed with him, and following him. One of his ex girlfriends might know if the stalker woman was Amal after all.

    • A says:

      How do you know she made a fb page?

    • Dippit says:

      Wow, that’s new info. Everyone knows her whole online presence was scrubbed and replaced with the Clooney authorised version they sold to all the usual media Clooney friendly outlets But a Facebook like THAT! That takes George’s Tom style sofa jumping over Amal into even more Katie territory.

      Still can’t figure why they were so dumb to think the ‘internet’ wouldn’t join so many of the dots they went about attempting to delete before they tried to make Amal a Thing (Unicorn).

      Not sure if I’ll be more p***ed if they go the baby for image damage control route or if we suddenly start getting photo ops of Amal parachuting into faked Humanitarian settings. She has zero aid worker or issues activist credentials. Both would be a horrific exploitation of others way too far.

      And I’ve read way too much lately about George’s Sudan work to not see it for having had a cut and run negative impact, even if way back he went into giving his support back when with good motives. Stuff lately about his satellite use is looking very sketchy. And the shady on that began around the same time as the Amal Experiment.

      Too much dodgy.

    • Dippit says:

      The whole George becoming first aware of Amal because of that “Hottest Lawyer in London” website award thing was always weird. Just very strange. Don’t think it was even a PollDaddy. More one of Amal’s contacts put her forward as “hot” and it snowballed into an obscure award and title George’s PR took for worthy. Bizarre.

      Even the woman who runs that site threw some shade on it (and Amal) just after Venice. Like it was a joke gone too far.

      It made it sound as if George was catalogue shopping for a lawyer wife/beard.

    • siri says:

      Wow…now, THAT’s interesting. But there must be people who saw that FB page, and maybe even tried to copy it when it all officially started, and before it vanished…her collegues would know, she supposedly had lots of followers…I also remember reading on the Yourhottestbarrister website that the two women who started the site were actually surprised about the whole Clooney happening, and joked about it, since this site is a private one, and just meant to be entertaining for all the lawyer circles in and around London. Not to be taken too serious.

      • Dippit says:

        *If* THAT fb page happened, and tbh, given Amal’s recent form, it wouldn’t surprise me, then can we forget Amal as the star of the reality Clooney Show she’s pap walk pitching for.

        Rather – Baria needs to go head-to-head Versus Kris on a Show. If Baria can work an offspring’s fb page into THIS she deserves proper credit. Even though THIS is a mess, it’s a hot one. Sort of.

        Think a lot of Amal’s delete & replace happened before people thought to screencap. There are bits out there beginning to emerge but ^^^ is new.

  43. neer says:

    I don’t get the so-called “last movie star look” on GC.

    Nothing special about his look. Yes, he is good looking but not the kind of look that people really go “gaga over” with. There are many other movie stars whose looks are more attractive & appealing than him. Every time I see his pics, I see an old man with gray hair who tries to be younger & sexy as well as who enjoys being seen by paparazzi with his wife. He probably married his wife because he was challenged by the jokes made by Tina Fey & Amy Poehler about his women. Deep inside he was hurt & he thought by marrying a barrister, he had the last laugh. If that’s his motivation of marrying his wife, he made a mistake. You must marry only for the right reason.

    Also, one thing that I sense about him is he comes across as lacking in humility when he is being interviewed. He’s full of air I think. So I don’t get his appeal at all. I think he has none.

    I think “last movie star look” description of him is PR related from his camp just so he can have a title attached to his name.

  44. carol says:

    Dumbest story of the year so far

  45. Sayrah says:

    People were taken with her at the beginning. Her constant playing with her hair at an awards show while George was accepting some lifetime award and in other countless images sealed it for me. She forgot about her hair briefly and gazed up at him in such an over the top way while he gushed over her made me think all of it is for show. I genuinely disliked her after this moment and felt sorry for him trying to be something he’s not.

    • siri says:

      If he doesn’t pull himself out of this miserable script, he will indeed end up very lonely, and sad. And all that just to keep up an image…

    • nicole says:

      She walked around the Golden Globes like she was better than everyone else, like shes too smart and good for Hollywood, what a joke, nobody new she even existed until George picked her as his `wife`. I couldnt get over how he went on about her in his thankyou speech like she has been there to support his whole career, shes just a blow in. He never once thanked or mentioned his parents, whats that about ,I thought he admired his parents, he completly blanked them.

      • siri says:

        Missing out on thanking his parents was the final indicator for me that something must be very wrong with this. He was so determined to convince everybody of this greatest love of all, he couldn’t focus on what this award was all about- and where his parents actually had the biggest impact on. This must have been very disappointing to them.

    • Christin says:

      ‘Trying to be something he’s not’ sums up the gut feeling I’ve had about him for quite some time (even before this ‘experiment’). There is a certain disconnect with him, as if he has a bit of an identity crisis at times.

      This ‘experiment’ has to be costing him a small fortune (besides the clothing, which may be free or heavily discounted). Then again, I’m amazed that his former GFs and former wife don’t sell him out. I hope he’s enjoyed the company of these women, because they have likely cost him a great deal of money through the years. Jet setting isn’t cheap.

      • adding sums says:

        Clooneys net worth is around 180 mio. takes a long time to spend that jet setting. the interest alone is around a minimum of 6 mio a year

      • Christin says:

        Jet setting, buying condos and jewelry (allegedly) — that would add up. And if the source for the $180M is a celeb net worth site, I take those with a grain of salt. They have no true idea what the person spends; only what they have earned.

        Not saying he’s near broke, but he’s likely spent a lot the past few years, and especially over the past 18 months. He’s not wearing those tequila t-shirts for his health. LOL

      • Jayna says:

        Having girlfriends and buying them nice things and jewelry and jetsetting with them is a drop in the bucket compared to being 50 and having one or two marriages under your belt and children. You lose a lot of your fortune by 53 with that scenario. His first wife doesn’t count because they had no kids and he didn’t really have much money. He even kept the same house all these years he bought when on ER.

        George is in his 50s when he married Amal, so all those years of only spending money for friends and girlfriends to be generous when he felt like it, ends up with him being pretty set financially and will be for a long time. She won’t bankrupt him, but she needs to stop with the designer labels just to step out of the house for her pap walks. It’s adding up. But worth $180 million? He can renovate his new estate in England, keep his home in Italy and his home in California and I’d say he’s just fine.

      • Christin says:

        Did anyone else realize he has apparently started renting the Como villa? Someone posted a link on the last post.

        The villa by that name is listed on luxury rental sites, but I could not find any reviews. On one site, it suggests the villa was listed beginning in February of this year. Lots of interior photos.

        Great way to pay for staff and expenses, but I thought he would want to maintain his privacy.

      • siri says:

        @Christin: I posted the link. Yes, he is renting, if there isn’t a second Villa Oleandra…and it looks like his place from the few pics of the front/side of the house we’ve got over the years.

      • Christin says:

        @siri – Thank you for posting that link. I was surprised such photos (and the rental aspect) were out there for all to see!

        I’d seen photos of the exterior, but never this much detail. The bright pink and kitty themed bedrooms are quite interesting! Now, if I could just free up the time and the $5,000+ per night to go rent the place! LOL

      • siri says:

        Hi Christin, I wouldn’t mind spending a week, or two there myself, not necessarily in the Hello Kitty room, though;-) The view must be magnificent…and those bathrooms….oh yes! Let’s call up Georgie , and perhaps some other ladies would like to join, so we can discuss all our ideas about his (love) life with him in person;-)

      • Subconciously says:

        I think there are some misconception on the costs of a celebrity lifestyle à la Clooney. Many of his plane travels will be paid for by studios or companies and are tax deductable. He gets lots of freebies and that includes jewelry. He gets paid to wear designer stuff and promote things.
        Remember all those di:caprio commercials in southeast Asia: orico card and car (toyota?) and whisky and there was some telephone something in italy.
        I just don’t know about Clooney’s commercials right now (wasn’t there something about coffee?) but he would be not clever to not do anything. His type gets paid to do interviews or to appear at certain parties and hardly all of that becomes public knowledge. Brands like Armani would pay him to wear their suits. I just don’t know if it is Armani with George. I think dicaprio is with Armani.

        As for his net worth of 180 mio – I wouldn’t just flush such numbers even if they should be 50% off the real numbers. And if he just has decend financial advisors (and in his social class they tell each other where to invest – insider knowledge) and he will have a considerable income from interest and stocks.

  46. Dippit says:

    Read somewhere her last pap walk with jumpsuit was her on way to Middle East, not Italy.

    She seems to go there to get her work done. Not the lawyering kind of work. Como summer visitors might be about to see yet another reNewed face of Barbie barrister.

    George invested too much in publicising and believing his own blurb about Amal’s really over exaggerated career status. Meantime Amal ran down the fameho road full on investing in calls to the paparazzi and designers.

    Guess when he was sold the Amal Experiment it was an elevator pitch and only long enough for bullet point pros. Took Venice+ for the cons to become apparent.

    No sympathy for either but hope they don’t inflict the arrangement on an innocent (baby).

    Like a couple ^^^ still wondering more if someone has had something on Clooney to make him motivated into this whole deal at the outset.

  47. Hannah says:

    Big wake up call for him. He thought that it wouldn’t matter that she wasn’t nice as long as she had a real job. Personally, I was rooting for Stacey.

  48. emma says:

    dumb. i disagree.

  49. Lamppost says:

    His face is full of filler. Brad Pitt has serious pillow face these days too.

    • siri says:

      There was an interesting interview with Roberto Pozzi, the major of this little town (Laglio) he lives in. The man was asked if he has heard about that, and he said no. He also said that George doesn’t speak more than a few words Italian, and that he lives in his own world, and doesn’t really mix with the locals anymore. He only met him ones, in all those years. The villa, he said, would not cost much more than 20 million on the market there right now. So IF George is planning to sell, it would have to be to someone outside of Europe willing to pay the reported 100 million.

  50. Fa says:

    Nothing change in George world with his girlfriends & wife now he had 4 July fireworks this time he didn’t do last year but he did this year with Julia Roberts for all people now, we can say she not different than the girlfriends as well

  51. TheOriginalMe says:

    Here’s the thing: I am a smart, accomplished woman AND I love fashion. But here’s another thing: precisely because I am a smart, accomplished woman, I’d never marry Clooney no matter how much fame or money he may have to offer. It is true, he has wit, but he seems quite shallow and superficial. Any intelligent woman would bore of him quickly. So I think she has to be shallow as well. I also think she’s calculating. He is as well. This is a calculated marriage, not one of love, which imho, is fine. It is a traditional marriage in that marriage for love is a rather modern concept. I also think george has no concept of what a real woman is, nor does he desire a real relationship with one. As for political aspirations? Please! Maybe CA, but he wouldn’t do well in the Northeast; i could be wrong but I don’t think so.

    • siri says:

      I’m saying this since the beginning of time;-) A truly smart, and independent woman would NOT want to be with him! And I also think his motives are far simpler: new image- just like that. He can’t deal with criticism. And, perhaps, the idea that his wife’s family can bring in some new connections to open new financial sources for producing his movies and/or a new market.

      • TheOriginalMe says:

        Totally agreed, SIRI (and yes, I’ve been reading your insightful comments for months now…). And she gets fame and fortune in return. I think it’s a fair transaction, one which satisfies both their superficial needs. But no way a truly accomplished, intelligent woman would do more than go out on a couple of dates with him. He’s not interesting. He’s sorta like my pub mates -good hearty fun over a pint or two, but wouldn’t wanna go home with any of them. 🙂

  52. CMiddy says:

    I am a lawyer based in London and what I find fascinating re Amal is that everyone seems to take it as read that she is in fact a star of the legal profession. I have no doubt that she is accomplished/talented but two points: 1: I would classify a “star” barrister (at her age) as someone who had been appointed Queen’s Counsel (the Mac Daddy accolade for a barrister in English/Commonwealth countries) – she is not a QC. 2: I am a partner in a decent sized City firm (though doing corporate rather than litigation work) and it is unfathomable to me that she could be a “star” and have the holiday absences she has. In my experience people at the top of their game in the legal profession tend to take limited holidays. I am not anywhere near that level and but in 16 years of practice have never used my full holiday allowance. Anecdotal evidence suggests that her chambers (ie her legal firm) are milking this for all it’s worth for profile reasons (which I totally get!) – but it does not seem to me that she is ever leading any of these high profile cases – rather she is the junior barrister on them. Not meaning to disparage as again reiterate I am sure she is very talented and human rights vwonderful practice area (much nobler than mine!) – however would not say “star”. No beef on the fashion though – if I won the euro millions I would do the same!

    • nicole says:

      CMiddy- thanks for the inside info, I think we all know by now her career has been hightly embellished.

    • Jaded says:

      Thanks CMiddy – in other words, she’s a Kardashian-style lawyer – all show, no substance.

    • boredblond says:

      Cmiddy..we were curious when her firm made a public announcement to the press that she was engaged..no law firm or company would do that here no matter who was involved..are her bosses just playing Kris to promote her Kim aspirations?

      • CMiddy says:

        Hello bored blond, sorry for late response, that was my first post ever on any site so was not expecting response! Yep absolutely, I found that very weird – her chambers is quite “up and coming” though so perhaps they wanted to just seize the day.. but I am sure that most similar outfits here would have kept a dignified silence (though if I achieve my aim of being the second wife of Tom Hardy would propose City-side shout out!!). You do hear a lot around the traps about her here as legal community pretty small – general view is amusement at her perceived “stellar rise” + wardrobe envy! All i can see is shallow, literally and figuratively, but perhaps I am just a b*tch!

  53. A says:

    If you think she buys her desginer clothes, with her own or George’s money, I have a bridge to sell ya!
    There was an article (posted here on CB) some weeks ago that was about how celebs hire stylists to get access to designers who pay THEM to wear their clothes.
    Amal does have a stylist (tried to hide it for awhile, but she does have one) and she gets paid to wear their stuff HOWEVER, here’s where it gets tricky…she gets paid to wear their stuff but she doesn’t get to keep the clothes!
    That’s the deal. Same deal these celebs on the red carpet get; We pay you to wear our dresses/jewles but you don’t get to keep them but instead have to return them after!
    So, these staged pap pics of her walking down the streets wherever (airport, to car, restaurant etc) in her designers clothes and bags….it’s all paid, so of course she can’t hide her big smile! Also why the clothes don’t fit properly, they haven’t been customed made for her and are loaners, probably sample size.
    It’s a win-win because the designers gets huge press covers on major online and offline news papers including the dailyfail who have a huge number of readers and amal gets money for it. Not millions mind you, but enough to take care of herself. George ain’t that rich!
    And apparently he is renting out his luxury villa in lake como,hmm…

  54. A says:

    If you think she buys her desginer clothes, with her own or George’s money, I have a bridge to sell ya!
    There was an article (posted here on CB) some weeks ago that was about how celebs hire stylists to get access to designers who pay THEM to wear their clothes.
    Amal does have a stylist (tried to hide it for awhile, but she does have one) and she gets paid to wear their stuff HOWEVER, here’s where it gets tricky…she gets paid to wear their stuff but she doesn’t get to keep the clothes!
    That’s the deal. Same deal these celebs on the red carpet get; We pay you to wear our dresses/jewles but you don’t get to keep them but instead have to return them after!
    So, these staged pap pics of her walking down the streets wherever (airport, to car, restaurant etc) in her designers clothes and bags….it’s all paid, so of course she can’t hide her big smile! Also why the clothes don’t fit properly, they haven’t been customed made for her and are loaners, probably sample size.
    It’s a win-win because the designers gets huge press covers on major online and offline news papers including the dailyfail who have a huge number of readers and amal gets money for it. Not millions mind you, but enough to take care of herself. George ain’t that rich!
    And apparently he is renting out his luxury villa in lake como,hmm…

    • Subconciously says:

      Clooney is in the more-than-one-hundred-million bracket. If you calculate a moderate interest of 3% then his income from interest alone is at least 3 mio a year.

      All celebrities and A-listers rent out their second, third and fourth holiday homes …

  55. nicole says:

    He does this every year, with every past lady friend, but just look at the way she is dressed, so over done, she hasnt got a clue, talk about tryhard. Look at Julia Roberts and the way she is dressed and acting, now thats a real star. This women is the biggest poser ever, and she just knew were to look for the camera, while everyone else is just enjoying themselves. Please dont tell me this women doesnt like the spotlight, she thrives on it.

    • nicole says:

      Sorry I was replying to Siri’s comment up above.

    • siri says:

      Those are not real pap shots, that’s for sure. I guess he just flew her in for another “look at how happy and in love we are” testimonial. You’re right, she looks right at the camera, so at least he should stop complaining about invasion of privacy.