George Clooney married lawyer Amal Alamuddin on Sept. 27 this year in an expensive celebrity wedding in Italy. In October, she changed her name to Amal Clooney, and now, she has been selected by Barbara Walters for her ABC Special on the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2014.
Amal Clooney is the most fascinating person this year because of what? Her marriage to actor George Clooney! And this is among names like Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, George RR Martin, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Strahan, Taylor Swift, Billionaire David Koch, Chelsea Handler and Scarlett Johansson, who were all listed for their personal achievements and actions.
According to ABC,
Amal managed to do the seemingly undoable, locking down a man thought to be one of the world’s most determined bachelors. In fact, Clooney, who had been briefly married in the early 1990’s, told Walters himself in 1995 that "I’m never going to get married again.”
That interview became so well known that Clooney told Walters in a 2006 interview that he no longer had to tell women he was dating that he wasn't interested in marriage since they'd seen the first interview with Walters.
However, meeting Amal changed George’s mind about bachelorhood. They met at a charity event in Italy in 2013 and were married just about a year later. During the ABC Special, Barbara Walters called the wedding perfect -- from Amal’s bespoke hat to the spectacular wedding dress designed by the late Oscar De La Renta.
With her marriage to Clooney, Walters says, Amal joins the ranks of Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana and Kate Middleton -- everything she does, says or wears is officially... fascinating.
Now, I watched the special because I love Barbara Walters like that, but TBH, I was not happy that the sole reason she chose Amal was because of her marriage. How can the most fascinating thing about a woman be about her marriage?
Whether she landed a confirmed bachelor, a prince, a president or any rich eligible man, what does it matter in the long run? If he's abusive or he dies or they divorce tomorrow nko? And we want our women to think beyond marriage? And be real while at it and choose only the right partner? SMH at Barbara, but I guess she's a woman of her times.
I also remember that last year, Walters named Hillary Clinton the most fascinating person of 2013 and I liked that. To be clear, I have nothing personally against Amal Clooney, and I liked this background of her personal life and career that was squeezed into the PR;
Born in Lebanon, Amal moved to a London suburb with her family as a child. She went to Oxford, got a law degree at NYU, and while in New York, clerked for then-federal judge Sonia Sotomayor. When she returned to London, Amal became a well-known human rights attorney with clients such as Julian Assange, Yulia Tymoshenko, and Kofi Annan.
Anyway, since I cannot change Barbara's list for her, I decided to make my own list of most fascinating people of 2014.
Oscar Pistorius - Did he or didn't he plan to do it? And why?
Claudia Alexander - project scientist overseeing NASA's support role in the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission that landed a craft on a speeding comet.
Russel Wilson - Quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, won the Superbowl, and wrote out against domestic violence
Nick Hanaver - Multi-millionaire speaking out about inequality and supporting increased minimum wage.
Chris Christie - May be our next president. And losing weight and governing a state while planning for it
Bill Cosby - Why Bill? Why?
Shonda Rhimes - Oliver just wants some more. Please give me some of your mojo!
Taylor Swift - How is she the only sane young, rich, entertainer in America today?
Kent Brantly - Ebola fighter extraordinaire.
Pope Francis - A true man of God.
Who will be on your own list of 10 most fascinating people?
Photo: Luca Bruno, AP
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