George Clooney's First Thoughts On Age-Gap Romance With Amal Debunks Sugar Daddy Rumors

George Clooney and Amal Clooney have become one of the most celebrated power couples in Hollywood. With George's status as a bona fide A-list movie star and politically minded filmmaker and Amal's career as a respected human rights attorney, the pair are the perfect mix of talent, intelligence, and fame. However, there's no denying that there is a significant age gap between the pair, and it seems the two-time Oscar winner was a bit apprehensive about that fact.

Clooney's first in-person meeting with Amal came in July 2013 when she stopped by his house with a friend, in Lake Como, Italy, while they were on their way to the Cannes Film Festival. Clooney recently reflected on that initial interaction in a profile interview with The New York Times, and said that his agent, Bryan Lourd, had previously met Amal and assured Clooney that they were destined to wed. Clooney, however, said he had no faith in his agent's taste when it came to good matches for him.

"Then Amal walked in. I was like, 'Oh my God!'" Clooney recalled. "Then I didn't really think I'd have much of a chance with her because I was 17 years older and she seemed to have everything she needed." Clooney recognized that Amal — a beautiful and already successful legal powerhouse -– was not in need of his financial clout or access to his fame. But he was smitten, and he pulled out all the stops to impress her.

George Clooney previously opened up about that serendipitous first meeting with Amal when speaking with David Letterman on his Netflix series "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" back in 2018. He explained that his parents just so happened to be staying with him as well when Amal and their mutual friend came by the house, so she met his parents before they were ever even a couple.

"We just talked, we stayed up all night talking. And I got her email address, because she was going to send me some pictures of my parents. So we started writing," Clooney recalled during the interview. "I didn't know if she wanted to go out with me – I just thought we were buddies." However, Clooney knew he was interested in pursuing a relationship so, a few months later when they just both happened to be in London, he invited her to come visit him as he was working on scoring a film.

"I thought, well, if you're ever going to impress anybody, it's with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road," George recently told The New York Times. Clearly, the power move worked and soon they began dating. The pair wound up tying the knot in September 2014, and welcomed twins Alexander and Ella in June 2017. Although the 63-year-old actor is acutely aware of his age, and how he wants to spend the rest of his life with his family. "I told Amal, 'We have to focus on the next 20, 25 years of making sure that we're jamming in everything we can,'" Clooney shared in his New York Times profile. "Not just work. Because no one at the end of their life goes, 'God, I wish I worked more.'"