george clooney venice international film festival 2024© Getty Images

Meet George Clooney's very private sister Ada: Inside their close bond

The Ocean's 11 star is the youngest of two children

US Lifestyle Editor
September 13, 2024

George Clooney is one of the world's most recognizable actors with a huge following – but not everyone wants to share in his limelight.

The 63-year-old is the youngest of two children and his sister, Adelia 'Ada' Zeidler, 64, prefers to live a quieter life than her baby brother.

Ada is very private and has rarely been seen in public with George, but he told CBS This Morning in 2015 that he is "very close" to his sister.

Meet George's big sister Ada below…

Adelia 'Ada' Zeidler

george clooney and sister ada at his 2014 wedding© Action Press/Shutterstock
George and his sister Ada at his 2014 wedding

Ada was born one year before George in 1960 to parents Nick Clooney, a journalist, and Nina Bruce Warren, a writer.

Ada has reportedly remained in the family's hometown of Augusta, Kentucky, and worked as a bookkeeper after attending college in Louisville and Northern Kentucky.

George has very fond memories of growing up in Augusta with Ada. In 2019, he told The Tennessean: "All the things we see on cable news of people being unkind to one another doesn't exist. They have to get along. I was really lucky to be raised in a small town like that."

Due to their closeness in age, Ada and George were part of the same friendship group growing up and enjoyed hanging out together and playing games.

Their mom recalled one time they enjoyed a spirited game with marshmallows. "I came home from work one day and George and our daughter and several friends were having a party in [a room of our house]," Nina recalled in a 2006 HGTV interview.

© Robino Salvatore
Ada is 'very close' to her brother George

"They had taken [marshmallows], and they would lick one side of them, and throw them at each other. When I came in, there were marshmallows stuck all over the room," she added.

Ada is a widow following the death of her husband Norman Zeidler, who passed away in October 2004 of a sudden heart attack.

They married in Augusta on March 14, 1987, and were surrounded by their whole family, including George, who read scripture at the ceremony.

© Action Press/Shutterstock
Ada lives in their hometown of Augusta, Kentucky

Together, they had two children, a son Nicholas, and a daughter Allison, and George is an extremely proud uncle.

"I've got a niece and nephew," he said on CBS This Morning in 2015. "My nephew was just made prom king. From the high school that I went to where I was not named [prom king]."

Ada returned the favor and was part of the three-day celebrations for George's 2014 wedding to Amal Clooney in Italy.

© KMazur
George with his and Ada's parents Nick and Nina

She was photographed wearing a silver, sequinned-detailed dress while traveling in a water taxi with George and their parents, bound for the Aman Canal Grande luxury resort hotel, where the ceremony took place.

Before George began his relationship with Amal, rumors circulated about his sexuality, despite his previous relationships with women, and in 2012, Ada gave a very rare interview in which she vehemently denied that George was gay.

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Ada's sister-in-law is Amal Clooney

"Yes, that's quite ridiculous, we don't even listen when people say things like that anymore," she told the New York Daily News.

"I think he decided that in his life he could have the career, or he could have a family. And so, when he decided to go full bore into the acting. That was where his focus was going to be."

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Ada doesn't have George's phone number

Ada also admitted that there was a time when she hoped to follow in her brother's footsteps.

"Yes, there is a part of me that would very much like to have become a famous actress or something like that," she said. "I enjoy acting and I was fairly okay at it, but I did not have a thick enough skin for it."

© Getty Images
Ada used to want to be an actor like her brother George

At the time, Ada also revealed that shockingly, she does not have her brother's phone number, preferring to keep in touch with him by email instead.

"I do not have his phone number because I wouldn't want to have it in my phone and then lose my phone," she explained. "He can phone me, and he does occasionally, but the email is more convenient for both of us." 

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