How do we join this elite social circle ASAP? George Clooney’s longtime pal Rande Gerber opened up about the 56-year-old Oscar winner’s jaw-dropping generosity. During a recent interview with MSNBC’s Headliners show, Gerber, 56, revealed that Clooney once gifted his closest friends $1 million dollars each and paid their taxes on the funds!
“There’s a group of guys we call ‘The Boys,’” Gerber explained. “George had called me and ‘The Boys’ and said, ‘Hey, mark September 27th, 2013, on your calendar. Everyone’s going to come to my house for dinner.”
When the pals arrived at the Suburbicon director’s place, Gerber said that black designer luggage bags were set on the table for each guest. “George begins to say, ‘Listen, I want you guys to know how much you’ve meant to me and how much you mean in my life,” the businessman recalled. “‘I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. I’m so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldn’t be where I am today without all of you. So, it was really important to me that while we’re still all here together, that I give back. SO I want you all to open your suitcases.’”
According to Gerber, when ‘The Boys’ opened up their custom cases, a million dollars worth of $20 bills awaited them. “Every one of us — 14 of us — got a million dollars. Every single one of us,” he continued. “We’re in shock. Like, what is this?”
Upon witnessing his friends’ amazement, Clooney reportedly said, “I know we’ve all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You don’t have to worry about your kids, you don’t have to worry about, you know, school, you don’t have to worry abut paying your mortgage.”
Gerber claimed that some members of ‘The Boys’ were living paycheck to paycheck at the time. “One was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family. Rides a bicycle to work everyday,” the Gerber Group founder claimed. “I mean, these are guys that took care of George and now he’s giving it all back. And George said, ‘Not only that, I have paid everyone’s taxes so this million dollars is yours.’”
The restaurant owner, who is wealthy in his own right and serves as a part-owner of Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila brand which, sold for $1 billion earlier this year, was hesitant to accept his friend’s gift: “I pull him aside and said, ‘I absolutely am not taking this million dollars.’ Immediately George goes, ‘I’m just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesn’t take the million dollars, nobody gets it.’”
Gerber, who said he donated all of the funds to charity, added, “This is who George is. That was September 27th, 2013. Now September 27, 2014, he marries Amal. That’s good karma right there.”
Clooney and the human rights lawyer, 39, welcomed twins in June 2017. The couple, who are known for their charitable contributions to society, donated $1 million to combat hate groups after the violence in Charlottesville in August. The philanthropic pair also helped raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims in September.
