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How George Clooney makes and spends his millions, from selling his tequila brand for $1 billion to investing in real estate around the world
Clooney says he was only paid $1 million to play Batman.
Starting out his career, Clooney struggled as an actor and starred in a slew of B-movies before landing his big break on the TV series "ER" in the mid-1990s.
His fame leveled up when he played Batman in 1997's "Batman & Robin." However, the movie was panned by critics and fans. Clooney admits he didn't get paid much to be in it.
In a 2020 interview with Howard Stern, the actor said though Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $25 million to star as Mr. Freeze, he only got $1 million to play the Caped Crusader.
He earned around $20 million to star in "Gravity."
The 2000s was when Clooney become a major star, thanks to movies like "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "The Perfect Storm," and "Ocean's Eleven." He also won an Oscar for his performance in 2005's "Syriana."
By the time 2013's space thriller "Gravity" came around, he was demanding $20 million paydays. He likely earned more thanks to his backend deal.
Not bad for only being in the movie for about 20 minutes.
In 2018, Clooney earned $239 million not from movies, but from tequila.
In 2018, Clooney found himself atop Forbes' annual highest-paid actors list despite having not made a movie in two years.
Thanks to a deal set for $1 billion with British liquor conglomerate Diageo for the tequila brand he cofounded, Casamigos, Clooney walked away with $233 million from the deal, according to Forbes.
That, on top of additional earnings from endorsements and movie residuals that year, Forbes listed Clooney's yearly earnings at $239 million.
He earns tens of millions through endorsement deals.
Over the years Clooney has signed deals with Omega, Martini Vermouth, and Fiat.
His most prominent are doing ads for Nespresso. Doing its campaigns pocketed him $40 million.
Clooney once gave 14 of his friends $1 million each.
Clooney didn't forget the people who helped him when he was just starting out.
He told GQ in 2020 how he repaid them.
Clooney said after that big payday for "Gravity," he bought 14 Tumi suitcases and filled each one with $1 million in cash. He invited his friends to a dinner party at his place, and there, he handed each of them one of these suitcases.
"I've slept on their couches when I was broke," he told the magazine. "They loaned me money when I was broke. They helped me when I needed help over the years."
George and Amal Clooney's wedding cost $4.6 million.
Despite being married briefly in the late 1980s, Clooney was known as a happy bachelor throughout his rise to fame.
That finally ended in 2014, when he got engaged to human rights attorney Amal Alamuddin. Before the year ended, the two were married in Venice.
E! News reported the wedding cost $4.6 million and had a guest list that included Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Matt Damon, Bono, and Anna Wintour.
He has real estate around the world.
Clooney has invested millions into properties around the world for decades.
In 1995, he purchased a $2.2 million, 7,354-square-foot, six-bedroom villa from Stevie Nicks in L.A.'s Studio City. The once-bachelor pad has since had $1 million worth of renovations put into it to fit his family life.
In 2002, he bought for $7 million a 25-room, 18th-century villa in Lake Como, Italy.
In 2014, George and Amal purchased a piece of property on the English island of Sonning Eye on the Thames for $13 million, which features a pool-house bar and a 16-seat screening room.
In 2016, the couple purchased a New York City luxury condo for $14.7 million.
In 2021, the Clooneys purchased a Provence wine estate in Brignoles, France, called Domaine du Canadel, for $8.3 million. It's just miles from Brad Pitt's Château Miraval estate.
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