The subject of “pandemic hobbies” came up during George Clooney’s interview in the 2021 Best Performances Issue of W Magazine. “I’ll tell you what I’ve taken on as a hobby: two or three loads of laundry a day, dishes all f-cking day, because these kids are all slobs,” George, 59, told W with a laugh. The Midnight Sky actor has taken on the role of caretaker for his and Amal Clooney’s 3-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella Clooney. “Apparently, you have to wash your children every once in a while.”
Doing the dishes and washing clothes is not all that George does. “I cut [my son’s] hair, and I cut my own hair too,” he adds, “but I’ve always cut my own hair. My hair is like straw. I haven’t cut my daughter’s hair. I’d get in trouble if I did. If I screw up my son’s hair, he’ll grow out of it. But my wife would kill me if I touched my daughter’s hair.” When asked what device he does when he opens up the Clooney Family Barbershop, George says he gets his trademark ‘do not from scissors or trimmers, but a Flowbee. “It’s got a little suction on it, and then it’s got these trimmers, so it pulls your hair up, and you cut it. It’s hooked up to its own little vacuum cleaner.”
George also reflected on how The Midnight Sky, his 2020 film about a global apocalypse, took on a new meaning during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Originally, the narrative was about regret and seeking redemption. But as the pandemic took over, the film became about our inability to be home and hug the people we love.”
While George has made sure to take care of his kids, he has also devoted time to Amal, 43. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on many relationships, and George has found a way to keep the romance alive in quarantine. “Even in lockdown [during the coronavirus pandemic], I’ll write a letter and slip it on her desk, or she’ll write a letter and leave it under the pillow; I’m a big believer in letters,” he said at the start of 2021.
“If it were a text, it would feel different,” he added. “Maybe that’s a generational thing, and maybe it won’t be that way 20 years from now, but for me, somebody sat down and wrote it.”