George Clooney: What's his problem?<

This "black cat" usually brings them good luck. At Cernobbio's "Gatto Nero", George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis always spend delightful evenings. Breathtaking view of Lake Como, specialties with porcini mushrooms, tiramisu and crème brûlée… On June 16, they are still living an exquisite tête-à-tête there: hand in hand, they would almost abandon the chef's excellent cuisine to devour each other eyes. By candlelight, a neighbor at the table finds them touching and annoying airs of "inseparable". A few hours after these public cooings, however, shouts burst from Villa Oleandra. The argument lasts, the insults rain down. The front door slams. And Elisabetta, furious, takes the wheel of her car. Direction Milan, an hour's drive. She is going to find friends to unburden herself. Just a quarrel? No: a few days later, a press release announces the separation of Elisabetta Canalis and George Clooney after almost two years of love. The beautiful Italian has no more to console herself than her tattoo on her arm, "To love is to suffer", which once pleased her man so much.

Going from total harmony to rupture in a handful of minutes… Nothing, decidedly, is certain with the elusive George. Are you a spicy and funny brunette – her type, to sum it up? Do not rejoice too quickly in his celibacy. Don't start pacing the shores of Lake Como in search of it with a casual air. Head to Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas instead, where you can pose in a wedding dress next to the actor's wax lookalike. Because if Elisabetta failed to keep the sexiest man in the world, it's to despair that a human creature succeeds.

The former “velina” – potiche, in original version – from Berlusconian TV had everything going for her. A plastic bombshell (what else?), but also a sense of humor essential to George the Clown, an infinite tolerance for motorcycle rides, a slight and irresistible aura of "bad girl" under her perfect bourgeois upbringing - she is the daughter of a Sardinian radiologist… She had even been dubbed by the sacrosanct friends of her lover. And, above all, by Nina, his beloved mother: he had posed between them on a red carpet. In Clooneyan parlance, it was better than an engagement ring.

So ? So you would have to know how to read coffee grounds to understand this rupture. This winter, relatives whispered that George, at just 50, would finally feel ready to have a child. Elisabetta was not: her acting career took off from the start of their affair, she went on filming and even ended up getting a leading role in an Italian film called… “A Natale mi sposo” (I'm getting married at Christmas).`

"I believe in marriage"

And then to hear a man, yet revealed by his role as a cute pediatrician in "Emergencies", repeating at length of interviews his refusal to procreate and evoking his "desires for vasectomy" ("If I feel the need to be surrounded by children and having a big family, I just have to suggest that Brad and Angelina come to my house with their six children. I then remember how happy I am…”) must temper all the enthusiasm. Not in a hurry and a fine fly, Elisabetta, 32, replied that her “maternal instincts” were “perfectly fulfilled” by her two dogs. For now, anyway. Crisis, therefore, this winter, when George changed the rules during the game. But the worst was yet to come. This spring, in an interview in an Italian newspaper where she spoke of their "fairy tale", she revealed: "I believe in marriage, I could not be with a man who, every time he opens his mouth, proclaims that he doesn't want children from me, or that he doesn't want to marry me. She would have brought the question back to the surface after their dinner at Gatto Nero.

Mistake, Elizabeth! Survival rule number one: never bring up a hypothetical nuptials. Even for laughs. The effect is even more disastrous than if you told him you intended to vote for Republican Sarah Palin. the conquests and goes on repeating: "I was married, I tried. I wouldn't have the patience and self-sacrifice needed to take care of a family. Or even, more movingly: “I'm afraid of making an absent and lamentable husband again. His longest companionship, he lived it, for eighteen years, with the wild pig Max. His ex-wife, actress and violinist, has had time to think about their story to prepare to play in the series "Mad Men" the deceived and neglected wife of a pub boss.

Since then, therefore, George Clooney only wants to believe in marriage for others. For his friends, first of all, to whom he willingly lends Villa Oleandra, its 18th century architecture, its immense gardens, its swimming pool, its basketball court and its thirteen rooms: they make it the breathtaking setting for their big day. Several times a year, organizers come to set up tents and trestles there, and thus revive the rumors about George's imminent marriage. Wrongly: he only dances at other people's weddings.

If he has no intention of letting a woman pass the ring on his finger, the convinced democrat militates, in the name of equality, for the right to marriage for homosexuals. Result: questioned two years ago about the sentimental future of his boyfriend, actor Matt Damon joked during an interview: “George should marry his boyfriend. The star is jokingly proselytizing herself by affixing "I'm gay and I vote" stickers to her pal Brad Pitt's Toyota Prius.

"Messenger of Peace"

Seriously allergic, George laughs at everything, nonstop. It is undoubtedly marvelous in the first times. Especially from a world star from Hollywood, the hill where everything, especially entertainment, is a serious matter, and where the heads of the actors do not always fit through the doors, however huge... It becomes more complicated for a woman in love who would like to talk about the future without hassle – just an hour, like that, to see. Impossible for the actor who defines himself as "a teenager with a 75-year-old liver", referring to his drinking binges with friends. Because the joker with graying temples only conceives of life in a pack: “What I like is being at home with my gang of friends. We hang out at home on the weekends, we drink beer, we play basketball, we watch sports on TV. “Not very sexy… But the daily life alongside George Clooney is, it seems, not maddening. Sarah Larson, model waitress whom he dumped after a one-year affair, between 2007 and 2008, says: “George is only worth a one-night stand. In bed, he's no more exciting than an accountant. Bitchy words from a rejected woman, no doubt.

Is there a single subject that does not make this eternal clown laugh? The misfortunes of the world. If commitment terrifies him in his private life, he is not afraid of it in his public life. He mobilized to raise funds for the victims of September 11, the 2004 tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Haitian earthquake in 2010... Above all, he made the genocide in Darfur and the destiny of the region of South Sudan the big business of his life, and multiplied his trips to this African country as well as the alerts addressed to the greats of this world. His action even earned him the title of "messenger of peace" by the UN.

He's also – relatively – serious when it comes to his work as a director and producer. Which basically joins his convictions: "Good Night and Good Luck", "Syriana" or even "The Ides of March", which will open the next Venice Film Festival and tells the presidential campaign of a man confronted with the twisted blows of the opposing camp… These films depict men alone facing a cynical machine, determined to crush their ideals. His heroes only have a love story in passing, as an obligation of the scenario to humanize them.

What if George's problem was his inability to consider that political and humanitarian battles could be fought as a couple? By dint of protecting himself from everything with his indolence and humor, he couldn't imagine being able to share more than good times and delicious dishes with a woman to his liking. While he has the example of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in front of him! And that of his parents, Nick and Nina, inseparable for more than half a century.

Unless George's inability to settle down is an effect of his playing side: in the 90s, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer each bet him $10,000 that he would be married and / or a father before his 40th birthday. . At maturity, he had returned their checks to them with a word: he offered to double the bet until he was 50 years old. He celebrated them on May 6th. The story does not say if the challenge is revived for the following decade.