Julia Roberts is crediting pal George Clooney and his family for saving her from “complete loneliness and despair” during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a Sept. 6 interview with The New York Times, Roberts discussed quarantining with Clooney in Australia while filming their romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise,” which premieres on Oct. 21.
“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 said. Filming took place between November 2021 and February 2022, per The New Zealand Herald. While Clooney’s family was with him, Roberts found herself alone in a house nearby.
“We started in Hamilton Island with all these wild birds, and Julia had the house down just below Amal and me and the kids,” Clooney 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.” Roberts’s family eventually made it to Australia, but they “had to fly into Sydney and quarantine for two weeks by themselves before she could see them,” Clooney said.
Roberts and Clooney play exes in “Ticket to Paradise,” a romantic comedy about two divorced parents who travel to their daughter’s wedding in Bali and decide to try to stop her from getting married and making the same mistakes they did. The pair have worked on a number of movies together in over the years, including 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” 2002’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” and 2016’s “Money Monster.” They’ve shared a close friendship since they starred in “Ocean’s Eleven,” frequently attending red carpets and other occasions together.
Clooney and his wife Amal are parents to twins Alexander and Ella, while Roberts has three kids – Hazel, Henry, and Phinnaeus – with husband Danny Moder.
