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George Clooney faces criticism over comments about raising children without help ‘for full year’: ‘Very brave’

George Clooney faces criticism over nanny comments (Getty Images for Turner)
George Clooney faces criticism over nanny comments (Getty Images for Turner)

George Clooney is facing criticism over comments he made about parenting his and wife Amal Clooney’s children without help during lockdown, and why the couple only employs a part-time nanny.

The Midnight Sky star, 60, who shares four-year-old twins Ella and Alexander with the human rights lawyer, discussed their parenting preferences during an interview with The Guardian, where Clooney revealed that they prefer to only employ a part-time nanny because Amal likes to be involved.

In response to a question regarding whether the celebrity couple employ multiple nannies, Clooney said: “We don’t, because it’s so important to Amal [to be involved]. We have a nanny four days a week and the rest of the time it’s just us.”

The actor then went on to reflect on the couple’s experience raising their children during the pandemic, as Clooney noted that the couple didn’t have any help “for a full year”.

“And during lockdown it was just us - for a full year!” he told the outlet, adding: “I felt like my mother in 1964, doing dishes and six loads of laundry a day.”

On social media, Clooney’s comments have sparked some criticism, as readers have questioned why the couple requires help raising their two children.

“Why do they need a nanny to begin with? Only two children. Just asking,” one person tweeted.

Another reader took issue with Clooney’s comments regarding parenting during the pandemic, asking: “Are they waiting to be applauded? ‘We had to take care of our kids alone for a FULL year’. Please. George, families have been doing this for AGES...and on a helluva lot less than you have.”

“Very brave of them,” someone else sarcastically added.

This is not the first time that Clooney has opened up about parenting amid the pandemic, as he previously joked during an interview with W Magazine that the hobbies he took up during lockdown included cleaning up after his children.

“I’ll tell you what I’ve taken on as a hobby: two or three loads of laundry a day, dishes all f***ing day, because these kids are all slobs,” he said. “Apparently, you have to wash your children every once in a while.”

The actor’s candid comments about parenthood come after he recently opened up about realising he wanted to become a father only after meeting Amal.

Speaking with Marc Maron on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Clooney recalled: “Listen, I didn’t want to get married. I didn’t want to have kids.”

However, according to Clooney, that changed “when this extraordinary human being walked into my life and I just fell madly in love”.

“Then I knew from the minute I met her that everything was going to be different,” he said, before revealing that the couple ultimately decided to have children after they’d been married for a year.

The actor and the barrister married in September 2014 before welcoming their children in 2017.

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