SARAH VINE: It’s sew sexy when a man does ‘women’s’ chores, too
Along with 99.9 per cent of the planet’s female population, I first fell in love with George Clooney when he starred as paediatrician Doug Ross in ER.
Even though his character was deeply troubled and a terrible philanderer, there was something about this tall, dark, handsome man who dedicated his life to saving babies — saving babies! — that I and all my girlfriends found irresistible.
Even when whispers started going around that he was gay, we weren’t in the slightest put off. A minor drawback, it was felt, and probably not true anyway — just a jealous rumour put about by men intimidated by his matinee idol charm.
It certainly seemed to have no effect on his career, and he went on to star in an endless succession of blockbuster movies, all with the coolest directors and co-stars.
Sarah Vine says Clooney is a ‘women’s man’ as he freely admits to domestic house chores – Pictured, George Clooney and his wife Amal
Clooney has always had that little bit of extra depth. He comes across in interviews as quirky, intelligent.
You get the sense that this is a man who, while always serious about doing a good job, never takes himself too seriously. His Nespresso ads, for example, were a masterclass in cheesy self-deprecation.
And now that he is safely married — to the long-suffering Amal, who has had to endure the jealous rage of half the planet — and living in Oxfordshire, it seems he is intent on throwing himself headlong into his biggest role to date: househusband.
He recently told an interviewer how he’d been doing seven loads of laundry a day in lockdown.
‘I’m like Mr Mom,’ he said, ‘literally like my mother in 1964.’ And it now transpires that, as well as looking after the couple’s three-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, while Mrs C is busy doing her international human rights lawyer work, he also takes care of other domestic tasks, such as sewing his wife’s dresses.
In Steve McQueen’s time ‘it was all brooding motorcycles and macho leather’, says Vine
‘I do a lot of sewing the kids’ clothes,’ he said, ‘and my wife’s dress that tore a couple of times. I was a bachelor for a long time and didn’t have any money, and you have to learn how to repair things.’
In the past, such a revelation would have almost certainly put paid to a man’s sex symbol credentials. After all, you could never have imagined a Steve McQueen or a Marlon Brando admitting to such things. It was all brooding motorcycles and macho leather for those types. But that’s because those sorts of leading men weren’t so much intended to appeal to women, as to other men. Clooney, by contrast, is a woman’s man.
Sarah Vine says Marlon Brando (pictured) would never have admitted to sewing kids clothes
And the truth is, there are few things more appealing to a woman than a man who knows how to take care of himself — and who is so secure in his own masculinity that he is happy to be seen to be doing ‘women’s work’ without fear of being branded a massive sissy. It takes courage for a man to embrace his domestic side. It also demonstrates something else: respect. Respect for his wife, and the work she does. And respect for the work of women in general.
So many women — friends and readers — have told me how lockdown has spirited them back to a kind of 1950s nightmare, where as well as doing their own day jobs they find themselves taking on the bulk of domestic duties.
All the extra cooking, cleaning, shopping, home schooling — somehow it always ends up in their laps. One described having her husband at home as ‘like having an extra child to look after, only less fun’. Another: ‘It’s like it’s all beneath him.’
Well, it’s not. If an A-lister like Clooney can grasp this, so can the rest of mankind. So, chaps, next time a button pops off your shirt or the hem drops on your trousers, don’t wait for the Mrs to fix it. Be a real man — and do it yourself.
If true, the allegations of ‘horrific abuse’ made by actress Evan Rachel Wood against singer Marilyn Manson could herald a new Harvey Weinstein-style scandal.
Manson himself (right) vehemently denies them, calling them ‘horrible distortions of reality’, but his record label has already dropped him, and there are other women alleging abuse.
That said, as someone who’s made a career out of obscenity — ‘My point on earth is chaos,’ he once said — he’s always had trouble written all over him. This is a man who once urinated on a groupie live on stage. And that’s really not the worst of it. He is revolting.
Abuse is always indefensible and all victims have my sympathy.
Yet I don’t understand what would possess anyone to go anywhere near this self-styled ‘Antichrist superstar’ anyway.
Scientists have taught spinach to send emails, apparently. Quite why is not entirely clear. But it certainly explains some of the press releases that land in my inbox.
Why don’t EU put a sock in it…
President Macron continues to denigrate the UK’s vaccination programme in an increasingly desperate attempt to cover up his, and the EU’s, inadequate provision in this respect.
But while he and his Brussels cronies pour all their energies into saving their own skins, the people of Europe — as ever — bear the cost.
In Italy, where my parents have been confined to barracks pretty much for an entire year, there is no end in sight. Not even my mother’s doctor knows when — or if — they might be receiving vaccine supplies.
French President Macron has been a sharp critic of the UK’s vaccination programme
Had they been living here, they would both have been vaccinated by now.
I guess we’ll just have to hope Britain makes good on its promise to donate the jab leftovers to Third World countries, won’t we?
Alan Yentob says the BBC should behave ‘a little more like social media’. If you ask me, the precise opposite is true. The BBC spends far too much time peddling silly conspiracy theories and generally trying to get down with the kids. Maybe if it focussed efforts on doing what it’s paid to do, i.e. be the grown-up in the room, it wouldn’t be haemorrhaging support.
Eddie Izzard has been a crossdresser for years but has recently come out as a different gender
It’s wonderful that comedian Eddie Izzard has found her true self, but her interpretation of female style is just a tiny bit peculiar.
I’d love to see someone give her a proper makeover.
With legs like those we could be looking at Vogue’s next big cover star.
I was struck by the description of one of the four men who knifed a 13-year-old boy in Manchester on Saturday as wearing a ‘Gucci bag slung across his body’.
So much for poverty and deprivation driving up violent crime.
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