Amal Clooney is a world-famous human rights lawyer, and that, in itself, is awesome.
She was reasonably well-known even before she started dating Hollywood’s silver-foxiest commitmentphobe, but it was a pure delight so watch how quickly the press pivoted from “Some non-movie star seems to have managed to finally pin the guy down! Way to go, lady who is dating George Clooney!” to “Holy heck! She is so out of his league! Way to go, dude who is dating Amal Alamuddin!”
Since then, there’s been a media-wide running joke about how George Clooney – George Clooney – is punching way above his weight by marrying a world-class international law expert who also happens to have great hair and looks really fantastic in expensive clothes.
In fact, it’s not really a joke any more. She’s too good for him. It’s just that simple.
Now, she’s on the cover of US Vogue in hot pink McQueen (with POCKETS!), looking like she could destroy you legally, emotionally and intellectually in three perfectly constructed sentences and still working a smize that would make Tyra Banks weep with joy.
Amal Clooney stars on the cover of our May issue! Read the full interview: https://t.co/FhIInohLPV pic.twitter.com/4z6brZYruH
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) April 10, 2018
But this is no puff piece.
Don’t worry, there are the details you crave: about the Clooneys’ home in the countryside outside London (lots of wedding and family photos, a painting of George’s late dog Einstein, the Moroccan-inspired “garden room” full of citrus trees, the poolside bar and photo booth for parties).
About their baby twins (adorably judgy and into eating), and their life – including the Extremely Relatable tidbit that they tried a three-week “cleanse” diet and bailed eleven days in so they could have coffee and booze again.
And yes, we also get to hear about relationship. Apparently George used to send her emails pretending to be Einstein the dog in sticky legal situations (SMOOTH) and she describes falling for him as “the most natural thing in the world … Before that experience, I always hoped there could be love that was overwhelming and didn’t require any weighing or decision-making.”
And the lush, elegant photos by Annie Leibowitz don’t hurt none, either.
But the majority of the story is focused on Clooney’s work, especially her campaign to bring justice to the Iraqi minority ethnic group the Yazidis, who have been systematically tortured, raped and murdered by ISIS.
Also present for much of the interview is Yazidi refugee and human rights activist Nadia Murad, whom Amal has been working with for a few years as they petition the UN to pursue justice for the Yazidis. The interview ends up being more about that – and her other activism and intense, enormously successful legal career – than anything else, and it’s because Clooney is smart as hell and made sure that’s how it went down.
Not only does she come off as charming, wildly clever, and determined to use the weird consequences of her great love (i.e. fame) for the best purposes possible, she turns her first ever cover story into a crash course in some of the biggest issues in international law.