Actor George Clooney and his wife lawyer Amal
(Picture: AFP/Getty Images)George Clooney has been hailed for his spontaneous 20,000 euro donation to a village of Le Val, close to where he has a property, after the French region was ravaged by floods.
Jérémy Giuliano, the mayor of Le Val, in Provence, revealed the Out of Sight actor’s money had made it possible to shelter residents for six months as their homes were repaired.
Le Val was flooded under two months of rain that fell in just a few hours with dozens of villagers having to be airlifted to safety in October 2021.
Mr Giuliano hailed the “enormous” donation at a town meeting discussing the repair work.
He told residents: “It was spontaneous and I want to say thank you.”
He kept the donation to himself that it “would not have been appropriate to overpublicise it and to put it in the media”.
George Clooney and his wife Lawyer Amal Alamuddin had bought 6.2million euro Domaine du Canadel, an 18th-century bastide complete with an olive grove and vineyard, in neighbouring Brignoles just months before the floods.
“For us, he’s a Valois, that’s undeniable,” said the mayor.
“Now we are in the phase of reconstruction [of the town], so I pushed for us to say it because it’s important for the victims to say who made this donation,” he added.
Asked if 20,000 euros was actually a generous donation considering Clooney’s immense wealth the mayor hit back he didn’t have time for critics, advising “scandalmongers to mind their own business”.
In the past the Clooneys have made major donations to Lebanese charities after capital Beirut was rocked by a deadly explosion.
At least 135 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured when a blast, apparently triggered by an accidental fire at a port, tore through the city.
