Actor and producer George Clooney has shared an open letter calling on publications to not share photos of his two children.
The letter from the 60-year-old actor/director arrives not long after British tabloid the Daily Mail published photos of Billie Lourd’s one-year-old without her consent. He’s asked for media outlets to not only respect the privacy of his children, but the privacy of any celebrities or public figures whose kids might be put in harm’s way through the sharing of such photos.
"Having just seen photos of Billie Lourd’s 1 year-old baby in your publication, and the fact that you subsequently took those pictures down, we would request that you refrain from putting our children’s faces in your publication,” wrote Clooney. “I am a public figure and accept the oftentimes intrusive photos as part of the price to pay for doing my job. Our children have made no such commitment. The nature of my wife’s work has her confronting and putting on trial terrorist groups and we take as much precaution as we can to keep our family safe.”
George added that it’s difficult to protect his children with wife Amal Clooney if their faces are published on the cover of a newspaper, for instance. “We have never sold a picture of our kids, we are not on social media and never post pictures because to do so would put their lives in jeopardy. Not paranoid jeopardy but real world issues, with real world consequences,” he continued. “We hope that you would agree that the need to sell advertisement isn’t greater than the need to keep innocent children from being targeted.”
The letter was specifically addressed to “the Daily Mail and other publications,” per Deadline. As the Hollywood Reporterpointed out, Clooney has clashed with Daily Mail in the past, calling the right-wing tabloid and subject of frequent controversy “the worst kind of tabloid.”
Clooney has two children with Amal, who gave birth to twins in June 2017. The couple have remained very private when it comes to their children, keeping them out of the spotlight since they were born.
