Hollywood star George Clooney is bashing Los Angeles and “the culture of Hollywood” and praising France as the better place to raise his children.

Speaking to Esquire magazine, Clooney insisted that fleeing to a farm in France was the best thing he and wife Amal could have done for their children, 8-year-old twins Ella and Alexander.

“We live on a farm in France. A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid” Clooney explained, “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 grownups and have to take their dishes in.”

The Ocean’s Eleven star went on to praise France.

“They have a much better life. 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,” he said.

He went on to say that L.A. is too charged with media mania and that furor is bad for children.

“France—they kind of don’t give a shit about fame. 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,” he insisted.

He was also happy that the large age difference between himself and his children is so very helpful. He noted that his career will be long over by the time his kids are beginning their adult lives in whatever careers they choose.

“The only thing I feel lucky about is that I’m so much older, that the idea that my son would be compared to me is pretty unlikely, because by the time he actually will have done anything, I’m gonna be gumming my bread,” he said.

“It’s important to me that they can survive,” he added about his children.

It has also been reported that George and Amal are so dedicated to making their homes a private space that they require visitors to leave their phones in a basket at the front door when they enter.

Clooney is not the only member of the Hollywood elite to flee La La Land.

The trend has been clear for years as celebrities have opted to leave L.A., and many even left California altogether.

Entertainers including Mark Wallberg, Sylvester Stallone, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Dean Cain, Robert Davi, Nikki Sixx, Rob Schneider, Scott Baio, and Sean Patrick Flanery left years ago.

This year, Ryan Gosling and his wife Eva Mendes were the latest to leave L.A. for a quieter, more sane home in the U.K.

Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco also joined the exodus and purchased a ranch in Thousand Oaks, California.

George Clooney confirms Ocean’s 14 green light

The actor and director revealed news of the heist franchise’s next instalment on the red carpet of his latest film, Jay Kelly. “We just got the budget approved at Warner Bros,” George, 64, told E! News. “It’s just scheduling, so it’s just setting a start date for us. Probably start in about nine or 10 months, shooting.”. Asked whether he was excited to act alongside his former co-star Brad Pitt, the Up in the Air actor agreed he would, before dropping a number of high-profile names he hinted may return to shoot the new Ocean’s movie.

George Clooney Says ‘Ocean’s 14’ Budget Got “Approved At Warner Bros.” & “Probably Start” Filming “In About 9 Or 10 Months”

George Clooney just shared an update on Ocean’s 14, revealing that the sequel film is expected to start shooting sometime in 2026.

In a new interview, the actor shared that Warner Bros. had just approved the budget for the followup to the heist film trilogy.

“We just got the budget approved at Warner Bros. and we’re trying to set up,” Clooney told E! News. “It’s just scheduling, so it’s just setting a start date for us … probably start in about nine or 10 months, shooting.”

The Ocean’s franchise began in 2001 with Ocean’s Eleven, a remake of the 1960 heist film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. The remake, directed by Steven Soderbergh, featured Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Don Cheadle.

Ocean’s Eleven earned over $450 million at the box office and was followed by Ocean’s Twelve in 2004, which grossed $362 million, and Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007, which grossed $ 311 million.

About reuniting with his Ocean’s Eleven co-stars, Clooney said, “Yeah, Brad, Matt and Don and Julia. I had dinner last night with Julia. They’re all still really dear friends. And so, the chance to work together would be fun.”

In 2018, a spin-off titled Ocean’s 8 was released, which featured an all-female cast that included Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, and Awkwafina. Bullock played Debbie Ocean, the sister of Clooney’s Danny Ocean. The film made $297M at the box office.

 

• George Clooney says his kids have a “much better life” living on a farm in France than in Los Angeles.
• He says his twins are not on their iPads, eat dinner with adults, and help clean up afterward.
• “I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi,” the actor said.

George Clooney‘s kids are growing up away from Hollywood, and that’s exactly how he wants it.

In an interview with Esquire published on Monday, the actor spoke about family life and his decision to raise his kids in France.

“You know, we live on a farm in France. 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 them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life,” Clooney, 64, told Esquire.

The actor added that he was “worried” about raising his children in LA, in “the culture of Hollywood.”

“I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life,” Clooney said. But in France, he added, people are largely indifferent to fame.

“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,” he said.

Clooney and his wife, human-rights attorney Amal Clooney, welcomed twins, Alexander and Ella, in 2017.

Elsewhere in the interview, Clooney made light of the age difference between him and his kids.

“The only thing I feel lucky about is that I’m so much older that the idea that my son would be compared to me is pretty unlikely, because by the time he actually will have done anything, I’m gonna be gumming my bread,” he said.

The Clooneys are famously protective of their kids’ privacy.

The actor wrote an open letter to the media in November 2021, urging outlets to avoid publishing photos of their kids due to his wife’s line of work.

“The nature of my wife’s work has her confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups, and we take as much precaution as we can to keep our family safe,” he wrote.

In a July interview with Glamour, Amal Clooney said she has a no-phone rule for house guests to encourage in-person connection while protecting her kids’ privacy.

“And I would say becoming a parent means you’re more troubled by some of the intrusions. So we do the best we can to minimize any impact on our children,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Clooney has talked about how life in France gives him a sense of normalcy.

In February, he told The New York Times that his farm in France is his primary residence, though he also has homes in England and Kentucky.

“Growing up in Kentucky, all I wanted to do was get away from a farm, get away from that life,” Clooney said. “Now I find myself back in that life. I drive a tractor and all those things. It’s the best chance of a normal life.”

A representative for Clooney did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.

Clooney is among several Hollywood stars who have spoken about leaving Los Angeles because of privacy and safety concerns.

During a SiriusXM interview in 2024, Jessica Biel said she and Justin Timberlake left the city to protect their kids from the paparazzi. Since 2018, they’ve lived mostly in Tennessee and Montana.

In May, Lindsay Lohan told Elle that she has fewer worries as a mother living in Dubai than in New York and LA. Lohan moved there in 2014 to step away from the Hollywood spotlight.