George Clooney once gifted 14 of his best-friends $1 million each, here’s why

Many of us may have heard of the story of Georgy Clooney gifting 14 of his closest friends suitcases filled with $1,000,000 in cash.

Clooney’s good friend and Casamigos business partner, Rande Gerber, first shared the story on MSNBC’s “Headliners” show in 2017.

2020 saw the actor confirm it and even go so far as to explain the gesture in an interview with GQ.

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“Amal and I had just met, but we weren’t dating at all,” Clooney said, flashing back to his mindset in 2013. “I was a single guy. All of us were getting older. I was 52 years of age. And most of my friends are older than me.”

Despite his individuality, the Hollywood starlet realized that he was extremely fortunate to have trusted best-friends. These people have been there for him in some way or another for 35 years.

“They helped me when I needed help over the years. And I’ve helped them over the years. We’re all good friends,” he continued.

“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**k am I waiting to get hit by a bus?”

George Clooney
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The actor had just been paid a few million dollars for his hit movie “Gravity,” co-starring Sandra Bullock. But instead of saving the money, he decided to give them away—in cash—to his best-friends.

Clooney hatched a plan seemingly straight out of “Ocean’s Eleven.”

He got a van with the word “Florist” painted on its side. He then picked up $14 million cash from a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles that had “giant pallets” of money.

George Clooney with Amal Clooney and his closest guy friends
YouTube

Clooney, along with a few security men, stuffed wads full of cash into 14 Tumi bags. Once it was all done, the actor asked his group of best-friends, called “The Boys,” to come to his house for dinner the next day.

“And I just held up a map and I just pointed to all the places I got to go in the world and all the things I’ve gotten to see because of them,” Clooney told the magazine.

Here’s how Gerber remembered the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Rande Gerber and George Clooney
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“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,’” he said.

“‘I came to LA, 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. So, I’d like you all to take out your suitcases.’”

Gerber said everyone was “in shock” upon seeing their cash gifts. Clooney claimed he had already paid the taxes.

“One [friend] was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family,” Gerber said. “Rides a bicycle to work every day. I mean, these are guys that took care of George and now he’s giving it all back.”

George Clooney and Amal Clooney
YouTube

Gerber tried to return Clooney’s generous gift. He pulled him aside and said he wasn’t taking the million dollars.

Immediately, the A-lister made a bargain, “I’m just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesn’t take the million dollars, nobody gets their money.”

Gerber was a successful businessman who gave his gifts to charity.

Clooney fell in love one year later. Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer, was married to Clooney on September 27, 2014. Now, the couple has twins.

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