George Clooney Talks Being an Older Dad to His Twins, Dialing Back Work for Family Time with Amal

"The hard part is being 60 and just the sheer running around of it," George Clooney said of raising his 4-year-old twins Ella and Alexander

George Clooney and Amal Clooney attend "The Tender Bar" Premiere during the 65th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 10, 2021
Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage

George Clooney is relishing in his role as a dad.

The actor, 60, recently spoke with Marc Maron on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast and raved about raising his 4-year-old twins Ella and Alexander with wife Amal Clooney.

"They're funny, and they pull pranks on me," Clooney said of his kids. "I just look at them thinking, I couldn't be happier and I couldn't be more surprised at how happy I am."

Elsewhere in the interview, The Tender Bar director discusses how being an older dad informs his decisions in life and work. "The hard part is being 60 and just the sheer running around of it," Clooney said of keeping up with his son and daughter.

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"I had this discussion with Amal the other day because I turned 60. Look, we have to rethink how we're doing our lives," the dad of two later shared, telling Maron that both he and Amal have talked about prioritizing their family over their careers in the near future.

"We're working a lot, both of us. She's working a tremendous amount as well. I just said, it doesn't mean we don't do a job because we gotta do a job. If you don't have a job, you're dead. We also have to make sure we're spending less time behind a computer or going on locations," he said.

"Sixty is a number but I've done all the physicals, knock on wood, in good shape. I feel healthy. Sixty, you can kind of beat the devil a little bit, 80 you can't and that's 20 years from now. Twenty years happens in a flash, and faster as you get older," said Clooney, who turned 60 in May.

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The star noted that he and Amal have charted out a timeline that will allow for more quality family time soon.

"I've committed to a certain amount of work that I'm going to do, making sure that I'm going to do that because it's a commitment and it's the right thing to do. And she's in the exact same place," he said. "It's going to take about a year, we figure. And then, it doesn't mean she's going to stop taking the cases that she wants, it just means she's not going to take six. And I'm not going to do four jobs a year, I'm going to do one."

Clooney added, "We're going to spend time with our kids and we're gonna travel again. We have a house with a lake and a rope swing. I can still do the rope swing at 60, I'm not sure about 80. I might s--- myself when I grab the rope."

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Also during his podcast appearance, Clooney shared the one thing that he wants to instill in his children.

"I'm really aware of a couple of things, which is I'm aware of the danger of celebrity with kids and I'm aware of the danger of having means with kids," he said, recalling his own childhood when his mother made his clothes and when his family moved around due to his father's jobs.

"I learned to be scrappy because of that. You can put me in any situation, I can survive," Clooney said. "I can survive anything. I had to make sure that that's something that our kids get. That's important to me."

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