Like many have suspected, George Clooney is definitely the generous type.
The 59-year-old actor, who was recently named GQ‘s Icon of the Year, has confirmed a longstanding rumor that he gave 14 of his closest friends $1million each in cash.
Clooney revealed that he invited his friends – a collective known only as ‘The Boys’ – to his house in 2013 and gave them each a suitcase containing the money.
The only confirmed recipient is Rande Gerber – a former model, A-list taste-maker, and close friend of Clooney.
Other members of ‘The Boys’ have never been revealed, but candidates include actor-director Grant Heslov, Curb Your Enthusiasm cast member Richard Kind, and former actor Tommy Hinkley.
‘They helped me when I needed help over the years’: GQ’s Man Of The Year George Clooney, 59, confirmed a longstanding rumor in an interview with the publication
Helping out: When the Ocean’s Eleven actor asked himself how he could repay his friends, he said: ‘How about a million bucks?’; seen here in a headshot for 80s sitcom The Facts of Life
Clooney told GQ that he decided to give away the money shortly after getting a bigger-than-expected payday from the film Gravity.
At the time he was single and wasn’t planning on having a family – though had just met Amal, who he would marry a year later on the exact date of the cash giveaway, September 27.
The actor recalled thinking: ‘What I do have are these guys who’ve all, over a period of 35 years, helped me in one way or another.
‘I thought, you know, without them I don’t have any of this. And we’re all really close, and I just thought basically if I get hit by a bus, they’re all in the will.
‘So why the f*** am I waiting to get hit by a bus?’
Explaining how he pulled off the stunt, Clooney said he went to a place in Los Angeles where it is possible to procure ‘giant pallets of cash’ – without explaining where it is, or how he came to know about such a place.
Driving a rented van with ‘Florist’ written on the side, the actor picked up $14million in cash and drove it back to his house along with his assistant and two security guards ‘who were s****ing themselves’.
Back at the house, he packed $1million – which he said ‘isn’t as much as you think it is, weight-wise’ – in 14 Tumi suitcases, and invited his friends over.
When they arrived, Clooney sat them down in front of a map with all of the locations he has been to and all of the things he has seen because of them marked on it.
‘How do you repay people like that?’, he recalled telling them, before adding: ‘How about a million bucks?’
Fortunate friends: Clooney gave 14 of his friends $1 million in cash each. Seen here with Casamigos partner Rande Gerber
Looking back: The actor reflected that ‘without them I don’t have any of this’; he is seen with Rande, Cindy Crawford, Mike Meldman, and wife Amal in 2015
Gerber, who first spoke about the scheme in 2017, said he initially refused to take Clooney’s money – so the actor came up with a clever scheme to force his hand.
‘If Rande doesn’t take the million, nobody gets it,’ the actor told them.
Gerber is worth an estimated $400million after founding a tequila company with Clooney – Casa Amigos – which the pair sold in a $1billion deal in 2018.
Not all members of ‘The Boys’ were doing so well at the time, however, Gerber revealed.
‘One was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family, rides a bicycle to work every day,’ he explained.
‘I mean these are guys that took care of George and now he’s giving it all back.’
Looking back on the deal now, Clooney reflected: ‘I was like, “I’m never getting married. I’m not gonna have kids,” I’m gonna work, I’ve got great friends, my life is full, I’m doing well.
‘And I didn’t know how un-full it was until I met Amal. And then everything changed. And I was like, “Oh, actually, this has been a huge empty space”…’ added the friend of Brad Pitt and Cindy Crawford.
‘I’d never been in the position where someone else’s life was infinitely more important to me than my own. And then tack on two more individuals, who are small and have to be fed…’
He said: ‘I didn’t know how un-full it was until I met Amal. And then everything changed. And I was like, “Oh, actually, this has been a huge empty space”…’ (pictured in March 2019)
George also reflected upon his acting career and said: ‘The only way you can honestly talk about things is to include yourself and your shortcomings in those things.
‘Like, when I say Batman & Robin’s a terrible film, I always go, “I was terrible in it.” Because I was.
‘But also because then it allows you the ability to say, “Having said I sucked in it, I can also say that none of these other elements worked, either. You know?”‘
The cover star added: ‘I’d never been in the position where someone else’s life was infinitely more important to me than my own’
George said he moved behind the camera because he doesn’t want his age to force him out of the movie industry which he adores so much.
He said: ‘I love this business. And I also don’t want to be 60 and worry about what some casting director or some young producer or studio executive thinks about me anymore. I wanted to be involved.
‘Directing is the painter. Acting, writing, you know, those are the paints.’
George also addressed the Breonna Taylor verdict in his home state of Kentucky.
He said: ‘I can’t believe it. There’s not even a manslaughter charge for a woman who was lying in bed and got shot to death.
Rubbing his eyes, he continued: ‘Imagine if those were three Black officers and they kicked in the door of a white person’s home and shot and killed the woman, the wife, in bed. Imagine that.
‘F***ing ridiculous. You know, it’s just infuriating.’
He said he hopes that the protests in his home state remain peaceful then, and adds: ‘You know, they talk about looting and stuff. Well, there have been an awful lot of Black bodies that have been looted for 400 f***ing years.’
George also spoke about letting other people, such as Chrissy Teigen handle trolls now. He said: ‘I have much more fun watching Chrissy Teigen. Somebody steps into her world and you go, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that, dude.”
‘It’s so much fun. Like somebody who thinks they’re really smart, and you just go, “Ugh, dude. You brought a knife to a gunfight.”‘
The December issue of GQ is available now.