A friend in need, they say, is a friend indeed.
This can be said of popular American actor, George Clooney, who gave 14 of his closest friends one million dollars each and even paid the necessary taxes on the gift so that they wouldn’t have to part with any portion of the money for tax.
According to E!, Clooney’s best friend, Rande Gerber, revealed this on a recent American show.
Gerber said the incident happened in 2013.
He said, “There’s a group of guys that we call ‘The Boys.’ George had called me and ‘The Boys’ and said, ‘Hey, mark September 27, 2013 on your calendar. Everyone’s going to come to my house for dinner.”
When the guests arrived, they found some dark suitcases by their side of the dining table and Clooney had some choice words.
“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, 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.”
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.”
And George said, ‘Not only that, I have paid everyone’s taxes so this million dollars is yours.’”
Gerber described this never-before-heard story as a testament to Clooney’s character, adding, “This is who George is.”