View this post on Instagram
Plenty of Hollywood star can trace back and find some Irish ancestry, but the latest celebs to gush about their Irish roots are, none other than George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Speaking on last night’s Late Late Show, George opened up about his 2019 trip to Ireland with his father, to reconnect with his roots and meet up with some relatives.
While here ER star visited his ancestral home in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, meeting up with his cousins Seamus, Agnes and Fiona Clooney at Ballyfin House. George had planned to bring his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, and their two children Ella and Alex on a similar trip to Ireland in 2020, but was forced to cancel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But still, the Ocean’s Eleven star was incredible grateful for his initial trip. Explaining: “It was a couple of years ago, just before Covid. I was going there with my father to see some old relatives. There were a lot of Clooneys, yeah, it was pretty fun actually.”
View this post on Instagram
Continuing on, he raved over how amazing it was to meet his Irish relatives, for the very first time.
Saying: “Yeah, it was really great – I mean it’s a funny thing where you go to meet people who you are related to who you have never met before…so many look like my uncle George…just really interesting things when you can see your family.”
The Intolerable Cruelty star also opened up about his family’s history, and how they left Ireland as refugees.
Explaining: “You know it’s a funny thing because we constantly have these issues of like refugees and always this discussion about you know…”
“You know our family was very much refugees. So, it’s a long history, you know the United States has deep ties to Ireland obviously.”
“So, our whole family… my grandmother used to say, the Irish pray on their knees, the Scots prey on their neighbours.”
View this post on Instagram
But, of course, George wasn’t the only one with a strong connection to Ireland. As Julia also has very strong ties here, having moved to this side of the pond, for her role as Kitty Kiernan, the fiancée of the assassinated Irish revolutionary leader, Michael Collins, in the 1996 biopic.
Opening up about her time working here, and co-starring with iconic Irish actor Liam Neeson, the Pretty Woman star gushed: “That whole experience was so beautiful. To work with Neil Jordan was such a treat and on a story like this to be invited in that kind of history was.. I just remember I was just so bowled over really. I just couldn’t believe it really.”
“I had worked with Liam [Neeson] once before and I remember when Neil offered me the part and I said ‘so Liam is good with this too? Like everybody is on board with this?’ I am pinching myself…”
But what really made the experience incredible for the actress was getting to spend time with her Irish relatives. The My Best Friend’s Wedding star confessed: “And to be there and I have family there that we are really close with. To see people that you don’t have the geographical luxury of seeing so often, it was just really a dream job.”
It seems like Ireland stole her heart as when asked if she returns here often, she said “yes, many times.”
“What’s not charming about Ireland? I love Ireland.”
