Amal Clooney jokingly criticises ninth anniversary gift from George: ‘Not very exciting’

‘There is no question that having Amal in my life changed everything for me,’ Hollywood star says of his wife

George Clooney honoured his ninth wedding anniversary with Amal in a classic way.

On 27 September, the Ocean’s Eleven lead and the Lebanese-British barrister celebrated the day they tied the knot almost a decade ago. During an interview with Extra, Clooney, 62, candidly admitted the gift he’d gotten to commemorate – and according to him, the mother of his children wasn’t as keen about it as he was.

“What is the gift? What is it you found out? It was clay,” the Hollywood regular admitted while at the Clooney Foundation for Justice Albie Awards the next day.

In US tradition, the ninth wedding anniversary is tokenised with pottery. So, while the Ticket to Paradise star stuck to a typical tribute, his unoriginality didn’t impress Amal.

“Pottery for a ninth anniversary. So, I gave her a pot,” Clooney confessed.

Amal swiftly added: “It wasn’t an exciting one.” The lawyer laughed to herself, noting how she’d received far more intriguing presents, before reiterating that this one was “something not very exciting”. She jokingly added that, if her husband planned on continuing with the usual gifts associated with each year of marriage, she would “have to wait another 16 years” for an enviable one – silver for their 25th, pearl for their 30th, or ruby for their 40th.

The happy couple hosted their nuptials in Venice, Italy, only a year after their first date in 2013. From Anna Wintour to John Krasinski and Cindy Crawford, their private party was packed with fellow Hollywood stars.

In conversation with People, Clooney explained how the two had decided to wed in Italy because it was where they first crossed paths. “We have a home there. We knew that was where we wanted to get married,” he noted.

However, when the two first began dating, marriage and kids were the last thing on Clooney’s mind. Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning in 2020, the Up in the Air actor proclaimed: “We never talked about marriage when we were dating.”

“I asked her out of the blue [and it] took her a long time to say yes. I was on my knee for like 20 minutes, I finally said: ‘Look, I’m gonna throw my hip out,’” he continued. “There is no question that having Amal in my life changed everything for me.”

The pair now shares their six-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella.

“And then we had these two knuckleheads. It is very fulfilling and something I wasn’t at all... didn’t see coming,” Clooney told Gayle King.

The movie-screen regular recently opened up about how he and Amal’s 17-year age gap affects their relationship. “We agree on most things,” he confessed to E! News in October of 2022.

“When you’re 61, which apparently I am, as you get older, you’re kind of looking at things a little differently,” he pointed out. “Amal wants to paint the wall yellow. And if I was younger, I feel like that’s a stupid colour. And now you just go: ‘I don’t care. Who cares if a wall’s yellow?’”

He also explained how focusing on the common values over trivial matters is crucial when it comes to a marriage.