Is seven months enough time to discover you want to marry someone? For George Clooney, it was.
The 52-year-old Hollywood star has reportedly popped the question to his Lebanese beau, 36-year-old Amal Alamuddin — and she said yes. According to E! News, Alamuddin was first seen wearing a rock — a very large one, if there ever was a question about that — on her left ring finger on Thursday. She was on a double date in Malibu with Clooney, supermodel Cindy Crawford and Crawford’s husband, Rande Gerber.
In a scene out of some bizarre fantasy you’ve probably daydreamed of, Edward Norton approached their already star-studded table — seriously, why weren’t we invited to this dinner? — and Clooney and Alamuddin exclaimed that they were engaged. The couple then shared kisses with Norton in celebration.
Clooney is a notoriously private person, so we may never know the intimate details of the proposal nor the inevitably glamorous wedding planning that will follow. But as someone who has proven that he can’t keep himself away from a good love story — no matter how many times he tells Barbara Walters that he’ll never get married again — the sudden news of his latest engagement is fitting.
If you’re left wondering who Alamuddin is, and whether or not dating Clooney is the most interesting thing about her (trust us, it’s not), tabloid! has some background for you. Get to know Alamuddin and why she’s perfect for Clooney.
Who she is: Alamuddin is a Beirut-born barrister who was raised in Great Britain. She is trilingual, able to speak Arabic, French and English fluently. She’s a published author who co-edited the book The Law and Practice of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
What she does: Alamuddin works on a collection of prominent political cases, and it’s safe to say her job falls under the “very stressful and important” category.
She represents high-profile clients, including pop culture fixture and head of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who was the subject of the 2013 Benedict Cumberbatch flick The Fifth Estate. Alamuddin also acts as legal advisor to many a political figure, from Kofi Annan to the King of Bahrain.
After graduating from New York University School of Law, she began her career working for Sullivan & Cromwell practicing American and international law. Now, her work as a barrister centres on international law, criminal law, human rights and extradition.
How they met: No one really knows the nitty-gritty details of how the two fell hopelessly and madly in love, just like no one really knows exactly how they wound up engaged less than a year into their relationship, but rumour has it that it all started with a meal. The two are said to have met at a dinner in October and have been close since. Topics of conversation probably included humanitarianism, fighting for justice and the need for world peace.
After the are-they-aren’t-they relationship rumours began gaining traction, Clooney attempted to clamp down on speculation through his spokesperson Stan Rosenfield. At the time, Clooney was also being linked to model Monika Jakisic and actress Katie Holmes.
“George wants this Monika crap to stop… He wants Katie to get a break, and he wants Amal to be able to prosecute cases without being hassled because she had one dinner with George and four others,” Rosenfield told People magazine.
He added that Clooney rarely comments on private matters, but that the actor wished to put an end to the harassment the three women were facing because of him.
Who came before: Clooney has famously dated a string of women with nary a prolonged period of solitude to his name. He was married to actress Talia Balsam between 1989 and 1993 and swore off marriage afterwards, claiming he wasn’t very good at the whole ordeal. But despite that being his only attempt at tying the knot, he dated model Lisa Snowdon, television star Sarah Larson, and actresses Elisabetta Canalis, Renee Zellweger and Krista Allen, among others.
In January of 2014, Clooney told British publication The Express that he finds the fascination with his love life to be “really something” — an unsurprisingly vague statement.
“I keep saying I’ll never get married again or have children but people just don’t want to believe me,” he said.
Perhaps the serial-romancer was just being coy in the public eye, or perhaps he made the same claims to all his close friends, effectively opening himself up to a barrage of smug I-told-you-so’s from now until the rest of time.
