The Oceans Eleven star shares twins Ella and Alexander, 4, with his wife, Amal Clooney, whose role as a human rights lawyer was cited as making matters all the more high risk for his children, should their faces be shown in publications.
In his letter, which was addressed to “the Daily Mail and other publications,” the actor wrote, per Deadline: “Having just seen photos of Billie Lourd’s one-year-old baby in your publication, and the fact that you subsequently took those pictures down, we would request that you refrain from putting our children’s faces in your publication.
“I am a public figure and accept the oftentimes intrusive photos as part of the price to pay for doing my job,” he continued in the missive, which was issued on Thursday night. “Our children have made no such commitment.
“The nature of my wife’s work has her confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups and we take as much precaution as we can to keep our family safe. We cannot protect our children if any publication puts their faces on their cover.
“We have never sold a picture of our kids, we are not on social media and never post pictures because to do so would put their lives in jeopardy. Not paranoid jeopardy but real world issues, with real world consequences.”
The screen star concluded: “We hope that you would agree that the need to sell advertisement isn’t greater than the need to keep innocent children from being targeted. Thank you. George Clooney.”
In July 2014, Clooney publicly rejected the Daily Mail’s apology for a false story ahead of his September 2014 wedding about then-fiancée Amal’s mother, slamming the publication as “the worst kind of tabloid.”
The Daily Mail issued an apology on behalf of its digital arm, Mail Online, after a story was published erroneously claiming that his mother-in-law, Baria, had told “half of Beirut” that she opposed her daughter marrying the star ahead of their September 2014 wedding. The story was subsequently removed.
While Clooney has engaged with the press over the years, he has been protective of his loved ones, particularly his offspring.
In an interview with AARP The Magazine, published in January, Clooney spoke about his efforts to give his two children as well an adjusted start to their lives as possible.
“I didn’t want, like, weird-a** names for our kids. They’re already going to have enough trouble,” he told the publication. “It’s hard being the son of somebody famous and successful.”
He went on: “Paul Newman’s son killed himself. Gregory Peck’s son killed himself. Bing Crosby had two sons kill themselves.
“I have an advantage because I’m so much older that by the time my son would feel competitive, I’ll literally be gumming bread.”
