{"id":2528002,"date":"2026-01-01T13:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/french-government-explains-decision-to-grant-citizenship-to-george-clooney-after-receiving-backlash\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:47:53","slug":"french-government-explains-decision-to-grant-citizenship-to-george-clooney-after-receiving-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/french-government-explains-decision-to-grant-citizenship-to-george-clooney-after-receiving-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"French Government Explains Decision to Grant Citizenship to George Clooney After Receiving Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrench-government-explains-decision-to-grant-citizenship-to-george-clooney-after-receiving-backlash%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2528002&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>george Clooney, his wife Amal (Alamuddin) Clooney, and their twins were granted French citizenship under a law allowing naturalization of foreigners who contribute to France&#8217;s international influence and economic well\u2011being. The decree, published in the Journal Officiel, drew criticism from junior Interior Ministry minister Marie\u2011pierre Vedrenne, who said it could appear unfair, while Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez defended the decision and said he signed it. French officials cited Clooney&#8217;s global stature benefiting the country&#8217;s film industry and Amal&#8217;s legal work with French academic and international institutions as reasons for the honors. The couple bought an estate in southern France in 2021 and say it is their primary residence; Amal was naturalized under her maiden name, Amal Alamuddin, and the twins were born in London. Clooney has joked that his French is poor and is using an app to learn it, while his family speaks French; it&#8217;s unclear whether he retains U.S. citizenship. The article notes it was republished by The Western Journal from an Associated Press piece and may <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >carry editorial differences<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal Clooney were granted French citizenship because &ldquo;they contribute, through their distinguished actions, to France&rsquo;s international influence and cultural outreach,&rdquo; the French government said Wednesday, defending their naturalization that was questioned by a junior French minister.<\/p>\n<p>The naturalizations of the Kentucky-born star of the &ldquo;Ocean&rsquo;s&rdquo; series of heist movies, his wife and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, and their twins Ella and Alexander were announced last weekend in the Journal Officiel, where French government decrees are published.<\/p>\n<p>Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uk-launches-investigation-into-mps-claim-she-was-fired-from-govt-role-for-being-muslim\/\" title=\"UK Launches Investigation Into MP&#039;s Claim She Was Fired From Govt Role For Being Muslim\">junior minister<\/a> at the Interior Ministry, expressed misgivings Wednesday that some of the Clooneys&rsquo; new French compatriots may think that the star couple was granted special treatment. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bridgerton-star-breaks-silence-after-facing-backlash-for-saying-during-coronation-balcony-was-terribly-white\/\" title=\"&#039;Bridgerton&#039; actor speaks out after criticism for calling coronation balcony &#039;too white.&#039;\">actor speaks<\/a> only what he himself says is &ldquo;horrible, horrible&rdquo; French.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The message being sent is not good,&rdquo; Vedrenne said in an interview with broadcaster France Info. &ldquo;There is an issue of fairness that, in my eyes, is absolutely essential.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The couple purchased an estate in France in 2021 and Clooney has said that it&rsquo;s their primary residence. Non-French residents of France have multiple possible routes to becoming naturalized. It wasn&rsquo;t clear whether the 64-year-old actor retained his American citizenship.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>His 47-year-old wife was born in Lebanon and raised in the U.K and naturalized by France under her maiden name, Amal Alamuddin. The 8-year-old twins were born in London.<\/p>\n<p>The Foreign Ministry said the Clooneys were eligible for citizenship under a French law that allows for the naturalization of foreign nationals who contribute to France&rsquo;s international influence and economic well-being.<\/p>\n<p>It argued that France&rsquo;s cinema industry will benefit from the actor&rsquo;s clout as a global movie star and said that as a lawyer, Amal Clooney regularly works with academic institutions and international organizations in France.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They maintain strong personal, professional and family ties with our country,&rdquo; the ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Like many French citizens, we are delighted to welcome Georges and Amal Clooney into the national community,&rdquo; it concluded, giving the actor&rsquo;s first name a French twist by adding the &ldquo;s&rdquo; at the end.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was also defended by Vedrenne&rsquo;s superior at the Interior Ministry, Interior Minister Laurent Nu&ntilde;ez, who said he signed the naturalization decree.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big chance for our country,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breyer-blames-white-men-who-ratified-constitution-for-supreme-court-abortion-decision-book\/\" title=\"Breyer attributes Supreme Court abortion decision to &#039;white men&#039; behind Constitution ratification: Book\">recent media interviews<\/a> when he was promoting &ldquo;Jay Kelly,&rdquo; Clooney said that he is trying to teach himself French using a language-learning app. He said that his wife and children speak the language perfectly.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They speak French in front of me so that they can say terrible things about me to my face and I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he joked, speaking to French broadcaster Canal+.<\/p>\n<p>French media have reported that the Clooneys live part-time in their luxury 18th-century villa outside the town of Brignoles in southern France, where they can keep a lower profile and their children are protected from unauthorized photographs by French privacy laws.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with Esquire in October, Clooney said: &ldquo;I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don&rsquo;t want them being compared to somebody else&rsquo;s famous kids,&rdquo; he said. Growing up away from the spotlight in France, &ldquo;they have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clooneys granted French citizenship for influence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2528003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-clooneys.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[52997,69888,34524,42358,69889],"class_list":["post-2528002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-france-politics","tag-french-citizenship","tag-george-clooney","tag-government-response","tag-naturalization-controversy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-clooneys.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2528002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2528006,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528002\/revisions\/2528006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2528003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2528002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2528002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2528002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}