Looks like George Clooney owes Michelle Pfeiffer a lot of money. The 52-year-old actor - Hollywood’s most determined bachelor, famous for a litany of fleeting loves - has taken himself off the romantic market, even though he once bet Pfeiffer $100,000 that he’d never marry again.
After dating a string of actresses, models, a cocktail waitress and a former professional wrestler, Clooney recently proposed to 36-year-old international law attorney Amal Alamuddin - despite repeated protestations that marriage wasn’t for him.
“This fascination with my love life is really something,” he said earlier this year. “I keep saying I’ll never get married again or have children, but people just don’t want to believe me.”
News of the engagement was announced by the human-rights law firm where Alamuddin works. Doughty Street Chambers said its lawyers and staff “offer their best wishes and congratulations to Ms Amal Alamuddin ... and Mr George Clooney on their engagement to be married.”
Alamuddin has advised former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Syria, helped ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko challenge her imprisonment and represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he fought extradition to Sweden.
Though they may seem like opposites, the pair, who were first photographed together late last year, have more in common than some might think. Clooney has shown increasing interest in international affairs and human-rights issues, campaigning for a resolution to the conflict in Darfur and organising a starry telethon to help Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. He’s also hosted fundraisers for USA President Obama, and recently made headlines for defending the president during an argument with Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn.
So what about Alamuddin made Clooney decide to give up the single life? Specific details are unclear. But she certainly cuts a different swath from his previous public romances.