File photo dated February 1, 2016 shows actor George Clooney and wife Amal at the Regency Village Theatre, in Westwood, California. George and Amal Clooney welcomed their twin babies, Ella and Alexander, on June 6, 2017 in London, the actor's publicist Stan Rosenfeld said. The 39-year-old human rights lawyer and 56-year-old Hollywood star -- both first-time parents -- tied the knot in Venice in 2014. (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)
In a new interview with Glamour magazine, Amal Clooney said that she and her husband George Clooney like to entertain “a lot” in their home, but that guests can’t stay if they won’t give up their phones.
“Creating private moments and spaces is becoming increasingly difficult,” Amal Clooney said in an interview at her and George’s English country estate. Her good friend, Charlotte Tilbury, the British beauty entrepreneur and make-up artist, also was present.
“I now have a phone basket that I use to take everyone’s phones away!” the human rights lawyer said. “It’s important to get that balance where you have time alone with your family and with your friends where people feel like you can have a safe and frank exchange.”
Amal Clooney’s statement is curious and perhaps sad for several reasons. For one thing, it signals that she and her movie star husband can’t trust the people they invite into their home — that these guests won’t do something with their phones that would intrude upon their privacy. It’s conceivable that a guest might innocently shoot a photo, and Amal Clooney is concerned that the guest would post it on social media. But it also sounds like she and her husband even worry that a guest could record a conversation.
As Amal Clooney said, this concern apparently extends to “family and friends,” suggesting that she and George Clooney might not be able to trust people close to them. It could be that the Clooneys are a bit controlling and paranoid, or maybe that’s the reality of being as famous as they are.
In any case, Amal Clooney also said these concerns about privacy have intensified since becoming a parent. She and George Clooney share 8-year-old twins Ella and Alexander.
“I would say becoming a parent means you’re more troubled by some of the intrusions,” Amal Clooney said. “So we do the best we can to minimize any impact on our children. We don’t put our children out there, we’ve never put their photo out there or anything like that.”
George and Amal Clooney became parents in 2017, three years after their splashy 2014 wedding in Venice. The Clooney wedding has been a source of fascination lately, in the wake of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s bigger, splashier — and some would way say “tackier” — wedding in Venice last week. But the Bezos-Sanchez wedding prompted protest from locals who are fed up with their ancient city being turned into “a playground for the rich.”
In her interview with Glamour, Amal Clooney talked a bit about her marriage to the “Michael Clayton” star, praising him for the way he’s long been supportive of her career.
“So I don’t feel like I have to apologize for it or rein it in,” Amal Clooney said. “And I remember when I became a mom, which was obviously a new frontier, he was the first one to say, ‘I know you’ve got this speech at the Security Council. You have to go, I’ve got the kids, don’t worry about it.'”
She continued, “I feel so incredibly lucky to share every day with him. And now we’re four. And I don’t take any of it for granted. I treasure the laughter and the joy that I get from just being with them.”
Originally published at Martha Ross