through the Hope for Haiti Now telethon.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome
presented Clooney with the Summit
Peace Award in 2007, but he acknowledges that his e;orts to make a major difference in the world have been di;cult.
“I’d love to say we’re succeeding, but
we’re not,” he admits with an air of frus-
tration. “We’re failing pretty miserably in
Darfur. But we’ve got to keep trying until
2½ million people are able to leave these
refugee camps and go home. We keep
hoping that we can keep some attention
on it and get some helicopters into sub-
Saharan Africa, which would be helpful.
I look up to people who have celebrity
and use it well—Bono and guys like
that—who’ve been so magnificent in the
work they’ve done.”
Like Bono, Clooney has taken his fair
share of criticism for his e;orts to use his
celebrity status as a platform for e;ecting
sociopolitical change. But in his eyes, that
sort of thing comes with the territory.
“I’m a grown-up,” he says with a smile.
“If I’m going to speak out about things
or raise issues, I know I’m going to get
slapped around a little bit. I could sit in
my house in Italy and drink wine and
have a good time, or I can stick my neck
out. The whole idea of America was based
on dissent and raising questions. It’s why
we left King George. But the thing about
demanding freedom of speech is that you
can’t say, ‘Don’t say bad things about me.’
You have to take your hits.”
Clooney has certainly taken his fair
share of hits during his career, but over the
past decade his persistence has paid o;
in spades. The charmer has gone to great
lengths to pay his good fortune forward,
never losing sight of the fact that fame is a
fleeting and fickle temptress. Still just as
grounded and gregarious as ever, he seems
content to enjoy the ride while it lasts,
making the most of every moment.
“When I was working on The Facts
of Life, I never thought I was gonna be
where I am today,” he recalls. “But it is
fun to be where I’m at right now, where
I can pick and choose the projects I want.
Coming out of Return of the Killer Tomatoes, that wasn’t an option, so you respect
that position once you get it. The truth
is that I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but
they all led me here. And here is fine for
