Early life
Amal Clooney (originally Alamuddin) was born in Beirut on 3 February 1978. The eldest of four children born to Ramzi Alamuddin, a university professor, and his ex-wife Baria, a respected journalist and foreign affairs commentator, Amal and her family moved to Buckinghamshire during the 80s due to the Lebanese civil war.
Career
Educated at a girls' grammar school, she won a scholarship to Oxford where she achieved a 2:1 in law, then went on to study at New York University School of Law - where she received the Jack J. Katz Memorial Award for excellent performance in the field of entertainment law. Amal returned to the UK to practice as a barrister in 2010 following a career abroad which saw her work at international courts including The Hague. She became well recognised in legal circles, although international fame on the public stage only followed her marriage George Clooney in 2014.
From 2014 to today, Amal has been a part of several panels of international experts whose job it is to advise and represent the UK in court, both on the domestic and international stage. A barrister who regularly represents journalists, she was appointed as the UK's Special Envoy on Media Freedom from 2019 to 2020 and was deputy chair of the high level panel of legal experts called on by the UK Supreme Court to discuss matters involving Media Freedom from 2019 to 2021.
In 2016, Amal and her husband founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which aims to create a world where human rights are protected internationally, and no person can evade the law.
Marriage to George Clooney
Amal and George were introduced by a mutual friend at a charity event in 2013. After George pursued a date with Amal, the couple began seeing each other, and in April 2014, it was announced that George had asked for her hand in marriage with an exquisite 7-ct diamond, worth an estimated £445,000.
The following September, in scenes that could have been taken from one of his movies, the couple took over Venice's waterways to host four days of lavish wedding celebrations. In June 2017, Amal gave birth to the couple's first children: twins Alexander and Ella.
For more news on Amal and her family, click here.
