George Clooney Slams Amal Alamuddin In-Law Rift Story; Gets Apology
George Clooney recently hit back at claims that his soon to be mother-in-law does not approve of him.
On Wednesday, the Hollywood actor, 53, blasted the Daily Mail U.K. via a lengthy statement after the UK newspaper published a story which claimed the mother of his fiancé Amal Alamuddin, 36, is unhappy about the couple's engagement based on religious grounds. Clooney's piece, published via USA Today, prompted an apology from Daily Mail.
"The Daily Mail has printed a completely fabricated story about my fiancée's mother opposing our marriage for religious reasons," Clooney wrote.
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"First of all, none of the story is factually true," he added.
In April Clooney announced his engagement to Alamuddin, who is a Lebanese-born British Human Rights lawyer.
On Monday, the British paper claimed Alamuddin's mother Baria had expressed concerns about the engagement to "half of Beirut," particularly because Clooney is not of the Druze faith, however, the Hollywood producer insisted this is simply not true.
"Amal's mother is not Druze. She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating, and she is in no way against the marriage," he wrote.
"The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous," Clooney continued. "We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal."
Clooney's piece prompted the paper to take down the story from its website and issue an apology to the actor and his family.
"We accept Mr. Clooney's assurance that the story is inaccurate and we apologize to him, Miss Amal Alamuddin and her mother, Baria, for any distress caused," Daily Mail said in a statement.
On June 22, Clooney's parents along with Alamuddin's mother Baria reportedly gathered at the Hollywood actor's 18th-century villa in Lake Como, Italy. The first time meeting between the families went very well and sources claim there was some discussion about Clooney's upcoming wedding to Alamuddin.
Clooney and Alamuddin got engaged six months after they began dating. While the couple have not publicly revealed a wedding date, insiders claim they plan on tying the knot on September 20, 2014.
"They've told family and friends they will only disclose the location at the last minute, and it will be very private," an insider told Radar Online.
Clooney, a successful Hollywood star, is passionate about humanitarian work and he has been at the forefront of advocacy for resolving the war in Darfur. Alamuddin, who was born in Beirut and raised in England, also has a philanthropic background.
Alamuddin is currently representing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and is an adviser to Kofi Annan, the special envoy to Syria.
