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France has officially granted citizenship to George Clooney, his wife Amal and their twins, Ella and Alexander, via decrees published in the country’s official journal. Official Journal. Naturalization confirms that the family’s main residence is now in France, where they owned a former wine estate, Domaine du Canadelnear the village of Brignoles in Provence, since 2021.
Clooney described the property as a farm and the main base of his family life, marking a significant change from Los Angeles, the traditional center of his industry and personal brand. For a two-time Oscar winner closely associated with Hollywood, turning a Provençal farm into a “home” is itself a strong signal about where he believes his children’s future – and his own balance – can be best protected. But it also amounts to a quiet referendum on the viability of the American dream, even for the ultra-visible, ultra-wealthy class it represents. His decision underscores the extent to which privacy, stability and a less celebrity-obsessed culture have become premium “assets” that some high earners no longer view as reliably available in the United States.
Personal protection against “Hollywood culture”
Clooney has been unusually explicit about why he no longer wants to raise his family in Los Angeles. “I was afraid of raising our children in Los Angeles, in Hollywood culture” he said Squire recentlyadding that he thought they would “never have a fair chance in life” there. He further explained that “France – they don’t really care – about fame”, and stressed that he didn’t want his children to “worry about the paparazzi” or “being compared to someone else’s famous kids”.
He also argued that his twins “have a much better life” in France than they would have had in Los Angeles, describing their routine on the farm as screen-lit, chore-heavy and family-centered. In this context, France constitutes less a romantic escape than a structural solution to the distortions that accompany American celebrity culture—and, by extension, a critique of a system that often markets visibility as a reward but makes surveillance a cost.
What this says about the American dream
For much of the 20th century, the american dream was sold as a package of meritocracy, upward mobility, and cultural centrality: succeed in America and you are at the center of the world. Clooney’s relocation suggests that for some of the people who have “made it,” the dream now requires an upgrade abroad. The same American system that allowed him to build wealth and status seems, he says, ill-suited to giving his children a “fair chance” or a normal childhood.
By choosing a jurisdiction with strict privacy rules – France has strong protections against child photography and stricter limits on paparazzi – Clooney effectively mediates regulatory environments to ensure non-financial returns: the anonymity of his children and a slower pace of life. This logic reflects the way multinational corporations optimize tax or labor regimes, but here the asset being safeguarded is family life rather than corporate profit.
Anecdotal evidence supports the idea that America’s ultra-rich are increasingly deciding that their American dream lies abroad. Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi moved to the United Kingdom shortly after the re-election of President Donald Trump, while Rosie O’Donnelloften the target of targeted attacks by Trump, qualified for Irish citizenship and moved to Dublin. Richard Gerélike Clooney, seemed to move for love, settling in Spain to be closer to the family and culture of his wife, Alejandra Silva. Fashion designer Tom Ford invested in a large mansion in London and began calling the UK home, while the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt also bought a house in London.
The data shows a greater increase in expatriate movements. The taxman »Expatriation list(which primarily encompasses wealthier individuals who meet certain asset or tax thresholds) recorded about 4,820 citizenship renunciations in 2024, an increase of about 48% from 2023 and the third highest annual total on record. (The two biggest years on record were the landmark years of 2016, when Trump was elected, and 2020, when the pandemic hit and Trump lost his re-election.) Between 2020 and 2024, approximately 21,000 wealthy individuals renounced U.S. citizenship, which is around 39% of all expats reported since this list began in 1996. These figures likely underestimate significant departures because they only include what are called “expatriates covered» (people above a certain threshold of net worth or tax liability) and excludes less wealthy renouncers and many people who move without renouncing their citizenship. The New Yorker even wrote an article recently, entitled “How to leave the USA», quoting increase in citizenship applications in Ireland and the United Kingdom in particular.
A case study in elite “diversification of life”
Clooney’s family still maintains ties to the United States and the United Kingdom, and the new French nationality is in addition to Clooney’s current American citizenship, not in place of it. In terms of portfolio, the family appears to be diversifying not only its investments and passports, but also its exposure to cultural and media risks, shifting the center of gravity to a country where fame carries fewer day-to-day penalties.
For professional readers, this decision seems less like an indulgent lifestyle game and more like a strategic reallocation of intangible capital: time, privacy, and mental health. If even one of Hollywood’s most profitable stars concludes that the full expression of his “dream” requires disconnecting from the ecosystem that made him rich, it raises an acute question for the United States: When success at the top comes with conditions that cause families to look elsewhere, what exactly does the American dream still promise?
