George Clooney reveals wife Amal is currently watching older episodes of ER and that his character Dr. Doug Ross ‘is getting me in a lot of trouble’
George Clooney first gained recognition with an array of guest starring roles on television beginning in the late 1970s, and in horror films in the early 1980s.
But it was his portrayal as Dr. Doug Ross on the hit medical drama series, ER, from 1994 to 1999, that shot him to stardom and set up his wildly successful movie career.
And now, some 22 years after he left the show to focus on his movie career, the two-time Oscar winner revealed his wife Amal just started watching episodes of ER recently, and that his character’s reputation as a ladies man has gotten him ‘in a lot of trouble.’
New ER fan: George Clooney revealed that his wife Amal has been watching episodes of his hit show ER recently
Clooney opened up about his television career during Monday’s episode of the podcast SmartLess with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.
During their casual conversation he admitted he had done seven television series and 13 pilots during his early career as an actor.
That led to Arnett’s disclosure that his ex-wife, Amy Poehler, ‘is an absolute ER junkie’, and that they watched every episode every night.
‘So I got to know you {Clooney} very well on your ER,’ he added.
Breakthrough: Clooney shot to stardom during his six season run on ER (1994-1999); the acclaimed actor and director is seen during an episode with co-star Anthony Edwards
The Syriana star shared how he was perfectly content on staying with ER for many years, while pointing out its massive popularity.
‘We were getting something like 42 million people to watch the show, and those are numbers that are just unheard of when we had 150 channels,’ he said of the series’ ratings.
‘My wife is watching them now and it’s getting me in a lot of trouble,’ the 59-year-old said of Amal, 43, before sharing about his character’s ladies man reputation.
‘I’d forgotten about all of the terrible things I was doing — picking up on women and all those things.’
When Bateman said it would be funny if Amal started to get starstruck with her husband based on the appeal of Dr. Ross, Clooney said, ‘Yeah, that’s not my wife,’ which got a big laugh from the three hosts.
Love story: Clooney also shared about why he waited until Amal to settle down into the family life: ‘The truth was — I met this amazing woman and she took my breath away’
The hosts followed up by asking Clooney why he hadn’t settled down into the family life with a wife and children until Amal.
‘The truth was — I met this amazing woman and she took my breath away. And she was brilliant, funny and beautiful and kind. I was sort of swept off my feet,’ he confessed.
‘We got engaged after a few months and got married within the first year that we met. That surprised me more than anybody else in the world, and everyone else was pretty surprise.’
He went on to talk about the joys of being a parent to his three-and-a-half-year-old twins — son Alexander and daughter Ella — with Amal.
The couple got married in September 2014 in Italy, and was attended by a slew of high-profile people including Matt Damon and wife Luciana, Clooney’s business partner Rande Gerber and his wife Cindy Crawford, Ellen Barkin, John Krasinski and wife Emily Blunt, Bono, Anna Wintour, and Bill Murray.
Massive hit: Clooney left ER in 1999 after six seasons to focus on his movie career; he is pictured during a scene with Eriq La Salle, Sherry Stringfield and Anthony Edwards from 1995