George Clooney, wife Amal Clooney and their 8-year-old twins are officially citizens of France, as of the day after Christmas. <\/p>\n
The news was reported by multiple French outlets as well as the Guardian<\/a>, all citing an announcement<\/a> published in a French government journal. <\/p>\n The Clooneys bought property in France \u2014 a farm, he recently told Esquire<\/a> \u2014 in August 2021, when their twins were 4. He said it was a \u201cmuch better life\u201d there for Ella and Alexander.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, we\u2019re very lucky. … 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\u2019s like \u2014 they\u2019re not on their iPads, you know?\u201d he said in the interview, published in the magazine\u2019s October\/November issue. <\/p>\n \u201cI was worried about raising our kids in L.\u2009A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France \u2014 they kind of don\u2019t give a s\u2014 about fame. I don\u2019t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don\u2019t want them being compared to somebody else\u2019s famous kids.\u201d<\/p>\n George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin<\/a> in September 2014 in Venice, Italy. <\/p>\n Domaine Le Canadel in France is, according to Hello<\/a>, \u201can enchanting and sprawling 425-acre Provence wine estate\u201d that cost the Clooneys a reported $8.3 million. It has a pool, tennis court, gardens, a lake, an olive grove and a 25-acre vineyard, the outlet said. But, you know, it\u2019s just a farm<\/a>. <\/p>\n Other celebrity couples have put down roots in the area, of course, with less than charmed results over time. Then again, those folks weren\u2019t French citizens, for the most part. <\/p>\n Clooney\u2019s remarks about the French attitude toward fame echoed previous comments made by Johnny Depp, who years ago found refuge in France for himself and his children, Jack and Lily-Rose, until he split in 2012 from longtime partner Vanessa Paradis, a French singer, model and actor. <\/p>\n The country \u201cafforded [Depp] the possibility of living a normal life. Really a simple life,\u201d the \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d actor told SFGate<\/a> in 2001. <\/p>\n In 2010, Depp told People, \u201cWith Vanessa and the kids, we live in a sort of little village in the south and I have the impression of being in paradise … and you know what I do there? Absolutely nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n Depp, who started dating his \u201cThe Rum Diary\u201d co-star Amber Heard the year he broke up with Paradis, listed his Provence property<\/a> for sale for almost $26 million in June 2015, then reportedly put it on the market again in the years that followed for more than twice the price<\/a>. However, despite containing an entire village in its 37 acres, the property appears not to have sold<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heard and Depp married in 2015<\/a> but divorced two years later amid allegations of abuse. Of course, dueling defamation lawsuits<\/a> followed. It got ugly<\/a>. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Clooney\u2019s buddy Brad Pitt and Pitt\u2019s ex, Angelina Jolie, have been battling in court for years over the 2021 sale of her half of their Provence wine estate, Chateau Miraval, which actually produces wine. The former couple signed a long-term lease on the property in 2008 and later bought a controlling interest in the company that owned it. <\/p>\n Pitt and Jolie married at Chateau Miraval in 2014<\/a> after meeting in 2004 on the set of \u201cMr. and Mrs. Smith\u201d when he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. (They went official as a couple the following July<\/a> after Aniston filed for divorce in March 2005.) Jolie and Pitt had kids and adopted kids together over the decade leading up to the wedding, but Jolie filed for divorce after only two years as husband and wife following a fight on a private plane. That also got ugly<\/a>. <\/p>\n The story of the Pitt-Jolie court battle over the chateau and its winery is long and complicated<\/a>, but it began with Pitt alleging that he and his ex had an agreement that if either wanted to sell their half of the place, the other would have to consent. Jolie, who sold her shares to Stoli\u2019s wine division, Tenute del Mondo, said they had no such agreement in place<\/a>.<\/p>\n