George Clooney learned from aunt Rosemary's relationship with fame
George Clooney was able to understand how fame works by looking at his aunt Rosemary Clooney's career.
The actor and director believes he hasn't suffered any major public embarrassments during his career because he had his breakthrough at an older age and learned how fame can come and go thanks to singer and actress Rosemary, who starred alongside Bing Crosby in White Christmas.
"I was 33, 34 when ER took off, so I was older, right?" he explained to The Guardian. "Also, Rosemary was a huge singer - huge! And then rock'n'roll came and she lost her career. And she didn't get it, because at 21 she thought she was the real deal and by 26 it was gone. So, I'm lucky enough to understand how little the fame side has to do with me."
George didn't grow up around Rosemary as she was in Los Angeles while he was in Kentucky but the family "all worshipped her" and he loved the idea of being in Hollywood so much that he'd "dream about it".
Speaking further about staying out of trouble, he added that he also didn't want to do anything that might embarrass his parents, city councillor Nina and news anchor Nick.
"My dad says: 'I spent the first half of my life being Rosemary Clooney's brother and the second half being George Clooney's father," the actor joked. "Both my parents are really respected where we're from and I wouldn't want to do anything to embarrass them. Also, my dad made one rule for me and that was: 'I don't care what you do in life, but challenge people with greater power than you and defend those with less power.'"
Rosemary passed away in 2002 at the age of 74.
