They’ve starred together on numerous occasions and are close friends in real life. So, did Julia Roberts and George Clooney ever date each other? Nope, and they never really considered the possibility, they say.
In a new interview with Access Hollywood, Clooney and Roberts opened up about why a romantic relationship was never an option for them, even though neither of them were married when they first met. Read on to see what the two stars had to say about their very platonic relationship.
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Clooney and Roberts’ friendship began when they starred as exes in the 2001 movie Ocean’s Eleven, but people assumed that they were friends even longer than that. “We had been long reported as ‘best friends,’ but had never met before,” Roberts told Vanity Fair in 2014.
They have since starred in four more movies together: Ocean’s Twelve, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Money Monster, and their latest, the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, which hits theaters Oct. 21.
In their new interview with Access Hollywood, Roberts and Clooney were asked if they ever had a “no-dating policy” to protect their working relationship.
“To not date each other? I don’t think we needed to state it,” Roberts responded, laughing. “It seemed the right thing to do.”
Clooney explained further, “Julia was always in a relationship, or I was in a relationship. And we were fast friends right away. So it was nothing. But it’s been nothing but fun for us. So, I don’t think that was ever really a thing.”
They then jokingly flirted with each other, which made Roberts mimic vomiting. “Well, you don’t have to react that bad,” Clooney said.
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In Ticket to Paradise, Roberts and Clooney play exes (again), who may just rekindle their relationship while attempting to stop their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) from rushing into a marriage. During an interview with The New York Times, the actors said that it was hard to keep from laughing when they had to kiss on camera.
“I told my wife [Amal Clooney], ‘It took 80 takes.’ She was like, ‘What the hell?'” Clooney said. Roberts added, “It took 79 takes of us laughing and then the one take of us kissing.”
Clooney admitted to Access Hollywood that their exaggerating on that point was haunting them during the press tour. “You know we just made that up, right?” Clooney said. “I made that joke once and we’ve been paying for it ever since.”
Roberts and Clooney are close in real life, not just in public or when they’re working together.
“What a relief we’re not Hollywood friends,” Roberts told People in 2016 while they were at the Cannes Film Festival for Money Monster. “I just said to him an hour ago, ‘Thank God we really do like each other, or we’d be in hell.'”
Clooney explained that they also get along with each other’s families. “[Roberts’ husband] Danny [Moder] and I are great friends and love each other,” he said. “What’s fun is it’s really like a family. It makes it easy. It’s really fun to go, ‘Hey, let’s do this movie together.'”
Roberts added, “What he’s saying is we’ve just stitched our lives closer together. All these people that come into our lives; my husband, my children, his wife Amal Clooney. We just keep stitching our lives closer together.”