George Clooney is on a hair-trigger over his age, his talent, his marriage to Amal and his disastrous attempts to meddle in politics — and sources say his increasingly nasty outbursts mean the suave, sophisticated image he has long cultivated is shattered for good.
“Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a s**t,” he recently railed in an interview with Variety.
“Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do,” he added defensively.
As reported, the Syriana actor has been grappling with age and marital issues, as well as criticism over how he kicked Joe Biden to the curb and backed the failed presidential bid of Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
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“I’m 63 years old, dude — I can’t do 50 takes,” he said about making the upcoming Netflix film Jay Kelly. “I don’t have it in me. I’ve got the acting range from A to B.”
Insiders say George’s foul moods are more frequent these days because Amal, 47, is fed up with him spending too much time on his projects and political meddling and not enough time at home with her and their 8-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander. She notably did not attend opening night for George’s Broadway run of Good Night, and Good Luck.
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“Everyone expected Amal to be at the opening,” says an insider. “Her absence only increased chatter that their marriage is not in a good place.”
His fuming in the recent interview “goes to show how sensitive he is to criticism and getting old,” says a source. “It must be stressful at home, or why else would he go off like this?
“George has been a time bomb for a while now.”
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Insiders say Clooney has been irritable with friends, but that Amal gets the brunt of it.
“They don’t tend to fight outright; they withdraw from each other,” says an insider. “Amal does her best to shake him out of these moods, but he’s getting increasingly cantankerous. He snaps a lot quicker than he used to.”
“They’ve had their issues, and George isn’t helping by being so tightly wound. People around him are telling him to lighten up.”