George Clooney admits to 'terrible mistake' he made with five-year-old twins

The actor has lamented teaching his children Italian
George Clooney says he regrets teaching his children languages he doesn’t speak
Ian West/PA Archive
Dominique Hines29 September 2022
The Weekender

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George Clooney has said that he regrets allowing his five-year-old twins Alexander and Ella to learn Italian.

The 61-year-old actor was joined by wife Amal, 44, on CBS Mornings on Wednesday (September 28), to promote their new awards show, the Clooney Foundation, for Justice's inaugural Albie Awards.

When host Gayle King asked what “delights” their children at that age, the actor quipped: “We made a terrible mistake. We taught them Italian... but we don't speak Italian.

“We’ve armed them with a language they can harm us with, and we don't really know what they're saying,” he admitted, adding that the siblings also speak French.

Clooney and wife Amal are promoting their new project, the Clooney Foundation, for Justice’s inaugural Albie Awards
Dave Benett

The Oceans 11 star also joked that, because he's from Kentucky, “English is my second language”.

Amal chuckled, before turning to her husband and saying: “Our son is now a big prankster. You’ve taught him all of these lessons and now he's pranking his dad back.”

Clooney added that little Alexander's favorite superhero is Batman, but he still isn't impressed that his father once played the Caped Crusader.

“I go, ‘You know, I was Batman?’” and he goes, “’Yeah, but not any more.’”

Clooney, on a taxi-boat during the Venice Film Festival, spends much of his time with wife Amal and their twins at their sprawling estate on Italy’s Lake Como
Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

Clooney was in Los Angeles earlier this month, for the launch of the Roybal School of Film and Television Production, where he also joked about his twins being smarter than him.

“They can do whatever they want,” he told the audience. “My guess is that they're a little smarter than me, so they'll probably do something - they already speak three languages, so I'm still working on English.”

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