Rande (who is married to Cindy Crawford and is a part-owner of Clooney's Casamigos Tequila company) explained, "George begins to say, 'Listen, I want you guys to know how much you've meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life. I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. I'm so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldn't be where I am today without all of you.'"
"'So,'" Rande said Clooney shared, "'it was really important to me that while we're still all here together, that I give back. So I want you all to open your suitcases.'"
Inside was $1 million in $20 bills. As Gerber remembered it, "Every one of us—14 of us—got a million dollars. Every single one of us. We're in shock. Like, what is this? He goes, 'I know we've all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You don't have to worry about your kids, you don't have to worry about, you know, school, you don't have to worry about paying your mortgage.'"
"One was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family," he added. "Rides a bicycle to work every day. I mean these are guys that took care of George and now he's giving it all back. And George said, ‘Not only that, I have paid everyone's taxes so this million dollars is yours.'"
Brucef310 on September 6th, 2019 at 02:42 UTC »
You have to understand why he did this. You can google it in fact but the jist is that all of these people had helped him out while he was struggling as an actor. He crashed on their couches, some paid his rent for a month or two, and other cover car payments or helped him out financially with what very little they had. Richard Kind who is one of his best friends let him live rent free in his apartment for a while because he wasn't getting steady work. Richard was a lead actor on spin city and really helped him out.
tipsystatistic on September 6th, 2019 at 00:47 UTC »
Probably a way to make sure people’s pride didn’t get in the way. Even if you didn’t want the charity, you could always rationalize that you took it so one of the needier guys could get his share.
JackieBronassis on September 6th, 2019 at 00:29 UTC »
Imagine having that many close friends.