George Clooney Says He ‘Thought’ He’d Never ‘See’ His Kids ‘Again’ After 2018 Motorcycle Accident

When George Clooney was involved in a horrific motorcycle crash in 2018, the first thing that came to mind was his wife, Amal Clooney, and their two kids. The iconic ER alum recalled thinking he’d never “see” his twins, Ella and Alexander, “again” after he was flown from his bike while in Italy.

“[I] thought that this was it,” George, 59, recalled during an interview for GQ‘s December/January issue. “My kids were like a year old, and mostly it was just [worrying] that I wasn’t gonna see them again.”

The Ocean’s Eleven actor’s near-fatal crash happened back in the summer of 2018 when he was in Italy filming his Hulu series Catch-22. George said he was “launched” in the air after being hit by a car on the way to the set.

“He literally turned directly in front of me. I [went] head over heels. But I landed on my hands and knees,” he painfully remembered. “If you did it 100 times, maybe once you land on your hands and knees, and any other version you land, you’re toast. It knocked me out of my shoes.”

The impact of George’s accident was so devastating, he actually thought “all [of his] teeth were broken out” when he slammed into the pavement. “But it was glass from the windshield,” he noted.

Still, the Batman and Robin actor’s horrific experience is something he remembers so clearly to this day. “I was on the ground. I was really screaming. Like, really screaming,” George explained. “I remember everybody got out of their cars, they stopped in the middle of the street, and all these people came and stood over me and just pulled out their phones and started taking videos.”

Following the horrifying ordeal, the Academy Award winner revealed he was officially done riding bikes. “I was very lucky to pull out of that one. That officially got me off motorbikes after 40 years,” he told ITV’s This Morning in 2019. “Which is unfortunate.”

Even though George had reservations about giving up his love of riding, he knew it was a sacrifice he had to make for the human rights lawyer, 42, and their young children, who were born in June 2017.

“It was one of those conversations, we were coming back from the hospital and she said, ‘That’s it,'” the Descendants actor explained of his discussion with Amal. “And I was sort of kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe I can still get away with this.'”

That wasn’t the case, however, considering George’s longtime friend, Grant Heslov, who was at the scene of the tragic accident, suggested he take his wife’s advice. “My buddy Grant said, ‘Yeah, I’m off,'” he dished. “There was nothing I could do — I was ganged up on!”