Hello! magazine has apologised “unreservedly” to George Clooney after it published an exclusive “one-on-one” interview with the film star which turned out to be "completely fabricated".
The article, which has since been removed from the Hello! website, centred on Clooney’s marriage to wife Amal, and how the couple managed to maintain a loving relationship despite their busy schedules.
In the interview with the celebrity weekly, which was picked up by a number of other publications including Us Weekly and mirror.co.uk, Clooney said that the key to the marriage was that the celebrity couple never spend more than a week apart.
He said: “We have a very strong connection and she’s an extraordinary woman doing great work. We’re both committed and shared a common concern for causes like the refugee crisis, but what really brings us together as a couple is the fact that we’re good friends and we enjoy each other’s company.”
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Following the article’s publication, Clooney put out a statement saying the interview was “completely fabricated".
He said: “I have never given an interview to Hello! magazine and the quotes attributed to me are not accurate.” He added: “To have an ‘exclusive interview’ completely fabricated is something new. And a very disturbing trend.”
The UK-based title, which is Spanish owned, issued a statement apologising for its actions but said that it bought the rights to the interview in “good faith” from a creative agency.
According to parent company Hello! Group, the interview “it bought from the Famous agency had, in fact, been culled together from a series of interviews that took place over a period of time, and many of the quotes attributed to Mr Clooney were never made by him.”
The statement added: “Hello! Group bought the material in good faith from a trusted independent agent, who assured us it was an authentic one-to-one interview with Mr Clooney, which we now accept was not the case.”
It is not the first time that Clooney has clashed with the British press. In 2014, he dubbed the Daily Mail “irresponsible” for running a story which claimed that Amal’s mother objected to the couple’s wedding.
Some publications, such as Vanity Fair and Marie Claire, have updated their versions of the interview accordingly.
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