Mistake That Made Them Better Parents: George Clooney reveals the one 'dumb' parenting decision he and Amal now regret

George Clooney has admitted that he and his wife Amal Clooney made a parenting decision they later regrated, although the actor’s “mistake” was less about discipline and more about accidentally giving their children a language advantage their parents could not keep up with.

In a 2020 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Clooney revealed that the couple’s then three-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, spoke fluent Italian despite neither parent speaking the language. Looking back, the actor jokingly called it a “really dumb thing”.

George Clooney’s twins learned fluent Italian

Speaking to host Jimmy Kimmel, Clooney explained that Alexander and Ella had become fluent in Italian at just three years old.


“We did a really dumb thing which is they speak fluent Italian,” Clooney said. “I mean, fluent Italian at three, but I don't speak Italian. My wife doesn't speak Italian. So it's really terrible; we've armed them with a special language.”

The problem, according to Clooney, was that the children could use a language their parents did not understand. That made even simple instructions difficult.

He recalled telling the twins to go back and clean their room, only to receive a response in Italian that he could not understand.

Clooney joked about the situation by pointing to his own background, saying he was “from Kentucky so English is a second language to me.”

The comments were mmade while Clooney was discussing life at home during the pandemic, when he was also taking on household jobs including laundry, mopping and washing dishes. He even said he had “wood-stained the entire house” during the period.

Twins were not originally part of their plan

Clooney and Amal married in 2014 and welcomed Alexander and Ella in June 2017. The actor has previously spoken about how unexpectedly parenthood entered their lives.

In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Clooney said he and Amal had never discussed having children before suddenly deciding to explore the possibility.

“We never talked about having kids, and then one day we just said, 'What do you think?'” he recalled.

The couple went to a doctor and discovered they were expecting twins. Clooney recalled being told they were having a baby boy before being informed there was another baby.

The twins have since become a major part of how the actor approaches his work and family life. Clooney told PEOPLE that he and Amal had become more selective about their work projects so they could prioritise their children.

A very different childhood

Years later, Clooney has spoken about another major parenting decision: choosing to raise Alexander and Ella away from Los Angeles and much of Hollywood culture.

In a 2025 interview with Esquire, he said the family lives on a farm in France. Clooney explained that he had grown up partly on a farm himself and disliked the experience as a child, but now sees advantages for his own children.

“We’re very lucky,” Clooney said. “You know, we live on a farm in France.”

He said the setting meant his children were less focused on screens and had more everyday experiences, including eating dinner with adults and taking their own dishes away.

Clooney also explained that he had been concerned about raising the twins in Los Angeles because of the pressures surrounding Hollywood and celebrity families.

“I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood,” he said. “I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.”