Amal Clooney doesn’t mind sharing her husband George… as long as it’s with the icon that is Meryl Streep.
Streep, who starred alongside her on-screen husband George in the Oscar-nominated 2009 film “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, introduced the human rights attorney during the online ceremony for the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards Thursday.
Her work as a humanitarian and activist has earned her this year’s Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, with her joking about Streep also being married to her other half during her speech.
Clooney told Streep, “You are an inspiration as a woman, as an artist, as a press-freedom advocate.”
Adding, “I know I can’t ever hope to win the number of awards that you’ve won, but it does occur to me that we have something special in common, which is that we’ve both been married to my husband. And honestly, the fact that you did it as Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic Fox just makes that so much less awkward.”
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“The arc doesn’t just bend towards justice on its own. Courageous individuals bent it for us. And now it’s our turn to play our part,” says human rights lawyer Amal Clooney at #IPFA.#AmalClooney is the 2020 recipient of the Gwen Ifill #PressFreedom Award. pic.twitter.com/dfq44yzEdz
— Committee to Protect Journalists #IPFA (@pressfreedom) November 20, 2020
Streep had said in her introduction about Clooney, “[She] exemplifies the tireless struggle for press freedom and justice. She’s not only something every journalist needs, which is a great lawyer, but she’s also a defender of the international laws that make free expression possible.”
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George Clooney and Streep have supported one another for years, with the actor previously joking about Donald Trump’s tweets about the actress being “overrated” following her 2017 Golden Globes speech.
“I’ve always said that about Meryl,” he sarcastically told People. “She’s maybe the most overrated actress of all-time. She and I worked together on ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ as husband and wife, and I will tell you even as a fox, a female fox, she’s overrated,” before asking the president: “Aren’t you supposed to be running the country?”
