George and Amal Clooney have evacuated their home in Brignoles, southeastern France, due to raging wildfires in the region. The couple, who share 9-year-old twins Ella and Alexander, conveyed their departure in a letter to the local mayor, Didier Brémond, according to a representative for the actor.
"As we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasise 2 things, first we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and I are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole," the Clooneys wrote in their message to the mayor. They added that they "love" the town and their "friends who live there."
The fires have prompted the evacuation of three thousand people in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, where the Clooneys reside. The Associated Press reported that the "uncontained" fire had grown to be four times the size of Paris. In the Gironde region of France, an additional 224,000 people were evacuated.
The Clooneys, who obtained French citizenship in December, primarily reside on their farm in Brignoles. George Clooney, 64, and Amal Clooney, 48, also own homes in Italy, Kentucky, and England. Last year, the actor spoke about the advantages of raising their children on their French farm, telling Esquire that it provided a more grounded upbringing away from the pressures of Hollywood and constant digital distraction.
"A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid, I hated the whole idea of it," Clooney said. "But now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life."
He also expressed a desire for his twins to avoid the intense scrutiny often faced by children of celebrities. "I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi," he explained. "I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids."
The twins, Ella and Alexander, are bilingual in French and English, and also speak Italian, a language their father admitted he and his wife do not fully understand. George Clooney previously joked about their multilingualism, saying he had "made a terrible mistake" by equipping them with languages they could use against their parents. The couple married in Italy in 2014.