This isn’t exactly how George Clooney imagined this summer would go. At the upcoming Venice Film Festival (September 2–12), he will receive the Golde
This isn’t exactly how George Clooney imagined this summer would go. At the upcoming Venice Film Festival (September 2–12), he will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and in the weeks leading up to it, he had planned a peaceful, relaxing time with his wife, Amal, and their twins, Alexander and Ella (age nine), at their villa in France. Instead, they had to evacuate their home in Brignoles, in the South of France, due to the wildfires ravaging the surrounding areas.
The star of Ocean’s Eleven wrote a letter to the town’s mayor after the evacuation, which his spokesperson confirmed to People magazine. “At this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment,” the letter reads. It continues: “As we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasize 2 things. First we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and I are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole.”
According to CNN’s reporting, over 3,000 people have been displaced in the same region of France, while the Associated Press estimates that the fires cover an area equivalent to four times the size of Paris.
Clooney and Amal, who are now French citizens, have decided to raise their children away from Hollywood in an effort to give them a healthier, simpler life. For this reason, the star explained, he decided to buy a farm like the one where he grew up. Not that it’s his only home, of course: He also owns Villa Oleandra on Lake Como, as well as a property in England and one near his family home in Kentucky. A few weeks ago, the power couple was spotted in Capri, and some were already speculating that they might be buying a fresh property in Campania.
For now, it seems that the star’s resources are entirely focused on keeping his family secure, but the location where he will spend the near future with his wife and children has not yet been disclosed. One thing is certain, as he told The New York Times in 2025, although as a child he wanted to escape to a place as far away as possible from the farm where he grew up, today it seems almost surreal to him to enjoy a bit of wholesome normalcy while riding a tractor. Thanks in part to the emotional stability Amal provides, Clooney finally feels free from the pressures and scrutiny of show business—much to the chagrin of President Donald Trump, who did not appreciate the change in citizenship.
Originally published in Vanity Fair Italia.
