In an interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” the commander-in-chief reveals how he became friends with the actor, while the first lady confesses to finding him attractive.
President Obama and his wife, Michelle, opened up about their relationship with George Clooney,whom the commander-in-chief calls a “wonderful guy,” in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
The president said he got to know Clooney through the actor’s work on behalf of the people in Darfur while Obama was in the U.S. Senate.
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“He is a terrific advocate on behalf of the people of Darfur and to the people of Sudan who’ve been brutalized for a long time,” Obama said. “And so when I was a senator — this was well before I was president — that was an issue that I was working together on a bipartisan basis, and George, who had traveled there, done documentaries there, and was very well-informed, came to testify in Congress. And so we got to know each other.”
Obama also called Clooney a “good man and a good friend.”
The first lady, meanwhile, confessed to finding the actor attractive: “He’s cute, too,” she chimed in.
She also joked that she happens to be “busy” whenever her husband schedules meetings with the actor, quipping that it’s a “conspiracy.”
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“Michelle is always frustrated because a lot of the events that George has been involved in, for some reason, she has something else going on,” the president said, joking that his staff always seems to find a reason to start “circling around my office” whenever Clooney has visited the White House.
“They’ve got memos they need to make sure I see right away,” he added.
In May, Clooney hosted a fundraiser for Obama at his L.A. home that raised nearly $15 million. He’s alsoset to appear at a pair of Americans Abroad for Obama events Aug. 27 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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But despite his support for the president, Clooney takes extra care not to be perceived as Obama’s BFF.
“He’s very protective about not bothering me,” the president said. “And he’s also sensitive to the fact that, you know, that if he’s around a lot, then somehow it’ll be tagged as ‘Obama hanging out with Hollywood stars,’ and that’s not who he is.”
ET’s interview with the Obamas is scheduled to air Monday night
