George Clooney and wife Amal become French citizens after leaving US

Couple live on farm in Provence with their eight-year-old twins

George Clooney, his wife Amal and their eight-year-old twins have been granted French citizenship.

A gazette notification published on Saturday in Journal Officiel listed the Clooneys among newly naturalised French citizens, according to the news agency Associated Press.

The notification stated that Amal Clooney was naturalised under her maiden name, Amal Alamuddin, and noted George Clooney's middle name as Timothy.

The British-Lebanese lawyer and the American actor married in 2014, and welcomed twins Alexander and Ella in 2017.

Earlier this year, Clooney talked about leaving Los Angeles for a quieter life in France and why he felt that it worked out better for his children.

“I was worried about raising our kids in LA, in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France, they kind of don’t give a s*** about fame,” he told Esquire in October.

“I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”

Clooney and his wife bought a house in Provence for $8.3m in 2021, according to Hello! magazine. The sprawling 425-acre estate reportedly consists of an 18th-century mansion with a pool, tennis court, vast gardens, and an ornamental lake.

George Clooney, his wife Amal Clooney, and their eight-year-old twins have been granted French citizenship (AFP/Getty)

The Ocean’s Eleven star told the publication his farm had 100 acres of grapes, 1,200 olive trees, and a tractor that he drove his kids around on.

“A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid, I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like – they’re not on their iPads, you know?” he explained. “They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life.”

Clooney has previously talked about wanting to protect his children’s privacy, writing an open letter in 2021 asking the media to “refrain” from using photos of his children.

“I am a public figure and accept the oftentimes intrusive photos as part of the price to pay for doing my job,” he wrote. “Our children have made no such commitment.”

Clooney said “the nature of my wife’s work has her confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups, and we take as much precaution as we can to keep our family safe”.

The Jay Kelly star has also spoken specifically about France’s strict privacy and paparazzi laws, telling RTL radio in December: “Here, they don’t take photos of kids. There aren’t any paparazzi hidden at the school gates. That’s number one for us.”

French laws offer strong protection to celebrities, and it is required to obtain consent before a person’s image can be published, even when photographs are taken in public settings, particularly when individuals are clearly identifiable. These protections are especially stringent when it comes to children, with photographing or publishing images of minors without consent carrying potential criminal penalties.