AFP, published on Friday 05 November 2021 at 23:36
American actor George Clooney has publicly called on the media to refrain from distributing photos of his children, in order to avoid endangering them.
The star of the film “Ocean’s Eleven” highlights the fact that his wife, Amal Clooney, is a lawyer specializing in the defense of human rights. As such, she finds herself struggling with potentially dangerous people and the couple’s children could become targets, he argues.
“My wife’s job leads her to confront and prosecute terrorist organizations and we take every possible precaution to keep our families safe,” writes George Clooney in an open letter published by Variety and other trade journals. .
“We cannot protect our children if any publication puts their faces on the front page,” said the American actor.
The star, who played the masked vigilante in “Batman and Robin”, says he sent his letter “to the Daily Mail and other publications”. He explains having had the idea of this letter after discovering on the internet photos of the son of actress Billie Lourd, only one year old. Billie Lourd is the daughter of Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia from Star Wars).
“I am a public figure and accept photos, often intrusive, as part of the price to pay for doing my job,” Clooney continues. “This is not the case with our children,” he insists.
“We have never sold a picture of our children, we are not on social networks and we never post pictures because it would put their lives in danger,” adds the Oscar winner.
“We hope you agree that it is less important to sell advertising than to prevent innocent children from being targeted.”
George and Amal Clooney have twins, born in 2017.
The actor had already attacked the Daily Mail in the past, the flagship of the British tabloid press which successfully exported his very aggressive style to the United States thanks to an internet version.
George Clooney had notably accused the newspaper of having invented an article claiming that his mother-in-law opposed his marriage in 2014. The Daily Mail had presented an apology, which the actor had refused.