Of
Stefano Montefiori
The clash with Trump accelerated the choice of the Hollywood star
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
PARIS – The icon of American cinema George Clooney becomes French. The Hollywood star close to the Democrats, and on bad terms with Donald Trump, maintains his American nationality but also adds that of France, thanks to a naturalization process which ended a few days ago, on December 27, when the decree was published in the Journal officiel. The 64-year-old actor of Ocean’s Eleven or Gravity becomes French citizen, his Lebanese-British wife Amal Alamuddin and their twin children Ella and Alexander.
As in the past Brad Pitt and Angelina Joliebefore their marriage ended in a disastrous divorce due to mutual causes, the Clooneys bought a villa in the South of France: acquired in 2021 in the Var, in Brignoles (halfway between Aix en Provence and Cannes), the Clooneys’ property includes an eighteenth-century property surrounded by 172 hectares of parkland, with swimming pool and tennis court.
«I love French culture and language, even if after 400 days of lessons I’m still denied», said George Clooney on RTL radio in early December. «The happiest place for us is this farm where children have fun, just like I did as a kid in Kentucky. I really love the life we lead there. They don’t take photos of our children here, there are no paparazzi stationed outside school. This is fundamental for us. I wanted a place where our children could lead a normal life. That’s really the main reason.”
Usually for a foreigner who wants to acquire citizenship requires at least five years of continuous residence in France, a good command of the language and passing an exam on knowledge of the history and values of the country, the difficulty of which was exacerbated with one of the last acts of the former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau before his resignation. A circular that adds a new multiple choice test and in general reminds us that French citizenship must be deserved, demonstrating a long attachment to the country.
From mastery of the language to years of residence, some criteria in the Clooneys’ case seem to have been softened, but it is possible that a different process was reserved for the actor’s family. In March this year, President Trump called Clooney “a second-rate actor” after he expressed his concerns about press freedom in the United States. «I don’t care how Trump defines me – Clooney replied – I’ve known him for a long time. My job is not to please the president of the United States, but to try to tell the truth when I can.” Another Hollywood celebrity who is trying to obtain French nationality to «escape from the United States» is director Jim Jarmusch, who declared that he had already started the procedures and wanted to shoot his next films in France.
December 31, 2025
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