George Clooney was once considered one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors. The actor became a major television star after his breakout role of Dr Doug Ross on the hit medical drama ER in the 1990s. During the height of his fame, fans and viewers were equally curious about his personal life as they were about his acting career.
After his divorce from actress Talia Balsam in 1993, Clooney built a reputation for swearing off marriage. The actor often joked in interviews that he would never marry again, despite dating many high-profile and beautiful women, including model Lisa Snowdon and Italian TV personality Elisabetta Canalis. At one point, he was also dating WWE alumnus Stacy Keibler.
Amid this, Clooney’s close friendship with his ER co-star Julianna Margulies, who played Carol Hathaway, a trauma nurse and his love interest on the show, also sparked fans’ interest. While the pair had strong chemistry on screen, Margulies once said she was glad they never dated in real life and instead stayed lifelong friends.
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Margulies has previously admitted that she used to have a crush on Clooney. She also opined that their onscreen chemistry stemmed from their chemistry behind the scenes. However, a few years ago, the actress shared that she was happy the professional relationship did not blossom into a personal, romantic relationship.
“He and I always joke that thank god nothing ever happened, because now we can remain friends for the rest of our lives,” Margulies said on an episode of the Armchair Podcast in 2021, PEOPLE reported.
“You just want to have the crush keep going and going. And that’s what worked,” she said at the time. “And also, he’s just a super awesome human being, and I love him.”
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Margulies also opened up about her crush on Clooney and their onscreen chemistry in her 2021 memoir, Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life. “That can’t happen if you don’t have a crush on each other, and with George and me, it was so organic. I was just supposed to be a guest star, number 39 on the call sheet. But he treated everyone the same,” she wrote.
Margulies also added that Clooney was kind to everyone on set and acted as a mentor to her during her stint on the medical drama. She said that she felt “safe” with Clooney.
While Margulies married lawyer Keith Lieberthal in November 2007, Clooney finally ended his much-talked-about bachelorhood when he met human rights activist Amal Alamuddin in 2013. They got engaged in 2014 and married later that year in a widely covered ceremony in Venice, Italy.
Clooney and Alamuddin are parents to twins Ella and Alexander. The actor has repeatedly credited his wife with changing his views on marriage and family.
