LONDON — Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper apologized to George Clooney on Wednesday for alleging his fiancee’s mother opposed the marriage on religious grounds – a story Clooney called wrong and irresponsible.
Clooney is engaged to Beirut-born London lawyer Amal Alamuddin, 36, whose father Ramzi belongs to a prominent Druse family. The Druse are adherents of a monotheistic religion based mainly in Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
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Citing unnamed family “friends,” the newspaper’s MailOnline website reported this week that her mother, Baria Alamuddin, wanted her daughter to marry a Druse man. It said Amal Alamuddin risked being “cast out of the community” if she wed Clooney, and claimed several women had been murdered for not abiding by strict Druse rules.
Clooney called the story “completely fabricated.”
He said Baria Alamuddin – a well-known journalist – was not Druse and “is in no way against the marriage.”
Clooney, 53, added that “to exploit religious differences where none exist is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous.”
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