"George Clooney is lucky to have a girl like Amal," Rafeh Khodr, a restaurant owner from Amal Clooney's ancestral hometown of Baakline in the mountains outside Beirut, Lebanon, told NBC News. "She's very well-educated, and a very well-esteemed person around here." Amal was just 2 years old in 1980, when her family fled Beirut to escape civil war, opting for a stable life in Buckinghamshire, London. But her personal achievements are still very much treasured by the Lebanese Druze community she left behind. "Amal is an outstanding person and we are very proud of her," Jamil Rajah, Baakline's deputy mayor, also shared with NBC News. "Quite aside from her marriage to George, she has made a name for herself as a talented lawyer."
Accounting for both her brains and her looks, Amal Alamuddin was born in February 1978, to her father Ramzi, a university professor, and mother Baria, a former beauty queen-turned journalist. The model-esque barrister's sought-after style pales only in comparison to her prominent career. And to this, one of Hollywood's most charmingly talented celebs met his match. Almost. "Just look at what she's done to George Clooney, reducing our American prince to the status of adorable sidekick," New York Magazine quipped.
