Julia Roberts Credits George Clooney With Saving Her From ‘Complete Loneliness’ While Quarantining On Film Set

Sep 28, 2022

While both Julia Roberts and George Clooney are Hollywood superstars in their own right, their close-knit friendship has elevated their popularity to stratospheric levels. After appearing in the hit heist film “Ocean's Eleven,” their camaraderie has never failed to light up any red carpet or event they have graced together.

Both actors began their careers in the 1980s, although Roberts was the first to hit the big time with her iconic roles in classics such as “Mystic Pizza,” “Steel Magnolias” and, particularly, “Pretty Woman.” After shining in her role as a working girl with a heart of gold who falls for Richard Gere’s affluent businessman, Roberts would go on to seal her status as America’s sweetheart in rom-coms like “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Notting Hill” and “Runaway Bride.” She also showed she could play more than just the romantic female lead with her turns in thrillers and dramas such as “Sleeping With The Enemy,” “The Pelican Brief,” “Stepmom,” “Mona Lisa Smile” and “Eat Pray Love.” But it was her role as the sharp, sassy and street-smart legal assistant in “Erin Brockovich” that earned her an Academy Award and guaranteed her legacy would flourish among cinema’s greatest for many years to come.

One of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs, Clooney gained widespread popularity with his role as Dr. Doug Ross on “ER” from 1994 to 1999 before going on to land several leading roles in films. Some of his most popular works include “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “One Fine Day,” “Batman & Robin,” “The Peacemaker,” “Out Of Sight,” “Three Kings,” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” He has also received many accolades over the years, including the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Read on to find out more about the pair’s enduring friendship and how it saved Roberts from “complete loneliness.”

In 2001, Roberts and Clooney began filming “Ocean’s Eleven,” in which they play former lovers who reunite as Clooney’s character, Danny Ocean, prepares to undertake an elaborate heist at a Las Vegas casino. Since then, Roberts and Clooney have had nothing but the sweetest things to say about their relationship, and their closeness is evident every time they hit the red carpet together.

Back when Roberts became pregnant with her first child with husband Danny Moder, Clooney even opened his house to her.

“She stayed at my house in Italy when she was first pregnant,” Clooney told People in 2016. “She brought all those monsters (her children twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, now 17, and Henry, 14) back to the house when they were actual human beings and we’ve had a blast with them.”

“Danny and I are great friends and love each other. What’s fun is it’s really like a family,” Clooney added. “It makes it easy.”

In the same interview, Roberts quipped in: “What he’s saying is we’ve just stitched our lives closer together. All these people that come into our lives; my husband, my children, his wife Amal Clooney. We just keep stitching our lives closer together.” 

That stitch has culminated in the duo now having starred in six films together, including “Ticket To Paradise,” filmed on location in New Zealand’s Whitsundays region between November 2021 and February 2022. The twosome plays a divorced couple who conspire to fly to Bali to break up their daughter’s wedding. The film brought Roberts and Clooney back into the rom-com game after a long hiatus and is their first film together since 2016’s “Money Monster.”

However, not all was peachy during filming, as the pandemic left Roberts isolated from her family for a long stretch of time.

In an interview with the New York Times on Sept. 6, 2022, Roberts recalled the challenges of filming during the pandemic and the loneliness of having to quarantine on her own.

“We were in a bubble, and it’s the longest I’ve ever been away from my family. I don’t think I’ve spent that much time by myself since I was 25,” Roberts told the Times.

“The Clooneys saved me from complete loneliness and despair,” she added.

In the same interview, Clooney went on to explain the situation further, saying while his wife Amal and 5-year-old twins Ella and Alexander had joined him during filming, Roberts hadn’t.

“We started in Hamilton Island, with all these wild birds, and Julia had the house down just below Amal and me and the kids,” he explained. “I would come out in the early mornings and be like, ‘Caa-caa,’ and Julia would come out and be like, ‘Caa-caa.” And then we’d bring her down a cup of coffee. She was Aunt Juju to my kids.”

Clooney added while Robert’s husband and children eventually made it to the location, they still “had to fly into Sydney and quarantine for two weeks by themselves before she could see them.”

Despite the personal challenges, there was still fun to be had on set, and the pair were quick to share a laugh when recalling a kissing scene they had to film for the movie.

“I told my wife, ‘It took 80 takes,’” Clooney joked. “She was like, ‘What the hell?’”

Roberts said the scene had been so difficult to film because they were such good friends.

“It took 79 takes of us laughing and then the one take of us kissing.”

What do you think of Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s friendship? Are you excited to see them in a film again together? Let us know, and pass this on to your own closest friends and loved ones.