Addio, George Clooney’s bachelorhood, and congrats for diving back into the marriage bowl. Clooney married British attorney Amal Alamuddin on Saturday, September 27, 2014 in Venice, Italy. And although he was married once before many years back to actress Talia Balsam, he had sworn to never marry again (like so many others swear to never do – and then do it anyway).
Unfortunately, when other people make huge ‘NEVER’ statements, it’s not usually caught on camera in front of a national audience. Here’s the second part of a November 1995 Barbara Walters interview that has come back and bit him in the ass (not as if he really cares).
>g
“No, I won’t marry again.” “I know I am never going to get married again.”
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines ‘Won’t’ and ‘Never’ as…
won’t
\ˈwōnt
: will not
nev·er
adverb \ˈne-vər\
: not ever : not at any time
Well, that doesn’t seem right. He said those words, but his actions don’t fit those definitions. What gives now?
The simple answer is that people change their minds. They do it all the time. And as I said above, when most of us say ‘never’ to something, it isn’t usually caught on camera. Most of the ‘never’ statements that we make are almost always forgotten. So we’re usually spared from the following response:
“HA, HA. You went back on what you said, Mr. Never Pants.”
Hey, people change. Their priorities, their thought patterns, their relationships with others. Sometimes what wasn’t important to us when we were younger becomes an important focal point in our lives as we get older.
At the time when Clooney gave the interview, I’m sure he was 100% adamant that he would never marry again. A lot of people who just got out of marriages usually swear they will never do it again. I’ve known many people myself who have sworn to never remarry, only to be married a year later. I think it’s a very common statement that people make when they divorce.
So I’m not trying to give the guy a hard time here. I’m just making more of a statement on, well… Statements. Especially the big, bold ones. And the use of the word ‘Never.’ Because that word ‘Never’ always comes back and bites you on the ass.
On a personal note, the Barbara Walters interview from years back had always stuck with me. Clooney was just so sure about what he was saying. There was just so much confidence and certainty behind his words. And over the years, I had a huge amount of respect for him for sticking to his guns. He was always the one guy who said ‘Never’ and actually meant it. And for almost two decades, he stood by those words.
Oh well.
