George Clooney Finally Tells Story In Which He Once Gave Each Of His Fourteen Closest Friends A Suitcase Filled With $1 Million

Nov 20, 2020 by apost team

George Clooney is a successful and popular Hollywood leading man and is apparently one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. Well, now, he can add being an amazing and generous friend to his attributes.

After a story was revealed a few years ago in which Clooney apparently gifted 14 of his closest friends $1 million, the star has now gone on the record and revealed the backstory.

News of the incident first surfaced in 2017, when one of George Clooney's good friends, businessman Rande Gerber—who happens to be Cindy Crawford's husband—told MSNBC about Clooney gifting 14 of his nearest and dearest $1 million each. As reported by Today, Gerber went on to tell the story that "pretty much sums up who George is." 

He details that a group of them are known as "The Boys" and were explicitly requested to come to Clooney's house for dinner on September 27, 2013. Randy goes on:

"Sitting in front of each of us at the table is a black Tumi bag, you know, luggage. George begins to say, 'Listen, I want you guys to know how much you've meant to me, and how much you mean to me in my life. I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. I'm so fortunate in my life to have all of you, and I couldn't be where I am today without all of you. So, it was really important to me that, while we’re still all here together, that I give back.'"

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He then told The Boys to open the suitcases and inside each one was $1 million made up of $20 bills. Rande says they were all in shock and asked "What is this?" George went on to explain that they'd all been through hard times and some were still going through it, but they wouldn't have to worry about their kids or mortgages. Gerber explained how for some of the guys it was a really life-changing amount of money, and Clooney had even paid all of the taxes on the money.

Gerber, successful in his own right, tried to decline the money, but Clooney was quick-thinking and made another announcement, saying that if Rande didn't take the money, then nobody would get it. Needless to say, Gerber went along with Clooney's wishes.

Until now George hasn't spoken of the incident at all, but recently he opened up about it in an interview feature with GQ. Apparently, it all came about after the massive success of his film Gravity, where instead of being paid, he and his co-star Sandra Bullock received percentages of the movie's takings, which turned out to be very good. He had already met his future wife Amal Alamuddin but they weren't dating yet and he didn't have any family either.

George explains in the interview with GQ:

"And I thought, what I do have are these guys who've all, over a period of 35 years, helped me in one way or another. I've slept on their couches when I was broke. They loaned me money when I was broke. They helped me when I needed help over the years. And I've helped them over the years. We're all good friends. And I thought, you know, without them I don't have any of this. And we're all really close, and I just thought basically if I get hit by a bus, they're all in the will. So why the f*** am I waiting to get hit by a bus?”

That's when Clooney had the only-in-a-movie idea of getting cash to put in a suitcase and gifting it to his loyal friends. He goes on to explain in the interview that he had to figure out how to get so much cash at once, which led him to "an undisclosed location" in LA that deals in "giant pallets of cash." Just like in a heist movie, he got a beat-up Florist van and drove downtown, taking the van down an elevator to a vault, and picked up the money. Apparently, he had only told his assistant and "a couple of security guys that were s**tting themselves." I mean, going off his filmography, if anyone is going to pull off such a stunt it's going to be George Clooney!

And it seems George's incredible gesture didn't go unnoticed by the laws of karma. Getting the money and gifting it happened over two days on September 27-28, 2013, and almost exactly one year later, Clooney married his wife Amal on September 27, 2014! As Rande Gerber said when he first told the story:

"That's good karma right there."

Well, there you have it—proof that George Clooney is not only gorgeous, talented, and so many other things, but he's an incredible friend who knows how to give back to those he cares for.

What did you think about this incredible story of friendship that sounds more like the plot of a heist movie? Tell us your thoughts in the comments, then be sure to pass this on to your friends who mean something to you!