George Clooney has confirmed he and his wife Amal are expecting twins, actor Matt Damon said.
Damon said he fought back tears when his Ocean’s Eleven co-star broke the news to him last year when Amal was just eight weeks’ pregnant.
He told Entertainment Tonight Canada: "I was working with him last fall and he pulled me aside on set and, I mean, I almost started crying.
“I was so happy for him. And I was like, ‘How far along is she?’ And he goes, ‘Eight weeks’.
“(I said) ‘Are you out of your mind? Don’t tell anybody else! Don’t tell anybody else! Don’t you know the 12-week rule?’ Of course he doesn’t. I was like, ‘just shut up, man’.”
Damon, who was a guest at the Clooneys’ wedding, added: “I’m thrilled for him. She’s amazing. He hit the jackpot. Just on every level. She is a remarkable woman. They’re going to be great.
“They’re going to be awesome parents. Those kids are lucky.”
Clooney (55) and renowned human rights barrister Amal (39) married in Venice in September 2014.
US television show The Talk first reported the news of the pregnancy when host Julie Chen told viewers that "the twins are due this June".
Rumours about a possible pregnancy started last month when Amal attended a Netflix screening in London apparently showing a baby bump.
They are not be the only celebrity parents expecting a multiple birth in 2017 — Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z announced last week that they were expecting twins.
Clooney had previously said he had thought about the prospect of becoming a father but “it hasn’t been high on my list”.
He told CBS This Morning in 2015: “I’ve been asked it a lot lately, because I’ve gotten married and I am doing a movie with kids in it.
“You should see how different, how creative the way they ask me.”
Amal, whose family moved to Britain in the 1980s after fleeing the Lebanese Civil War, is known for having represented a string of high-profile clients including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Representatives for the Clooneys could not be reached.
PA