Skip to main content

George Clooney, Amal Clooney send note to mayor while evacuating home in France amid wildfires

George Clooney and Amal Clooney attend the 51st Chaplin Award Gala honoring George Clooney at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on April 27, 2026 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

George Clooney and Amal Clooney evacuated their home in Brignoles, France, this week as wildfires tore through the region, sending a moving note to the town’s mayor as they left.

The actor and human rights attorney informed Didier Bremond, the mayor of Brignoles, of their departure in a note shared with ABC News by a representative for Clooney on Thursday.

“At this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment and as we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasise 2 things,” the note read. “First we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and i are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole.”

“We love Brignoles and our friends who live there,” the note concluded.

Brignoles is located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southeastern France and has a population of around 18,000, according to a recent census.

A wildfire broke out near the town on Wednesday, burning approximately 321 acres of vegetation before it was contained around 3 a.m. local time, but not fully extinguished, according to local authorities. Four firefighters were injured while battling the blaze, authorities said in an update Thursday, adding that firefighters were still working to put out the flames.

Wildfires are currently burning through large swaths of southern Europe, including parts of Greece, France and Spain, and as far north as the U.K. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated amid the fires, with sweltering heat waves blanketing the region, worsening conditions.

George Clooney and Amal Clooney reportedly purchased their home in France in 2021, according to The Associated Press.

George Clooney discussed his life in France in a 2025 interview with Esquire, describing what it was like for his family to live on farm in the country.

“Yeah, we’re very lucky,” he said at the time. “You know, we live on a farm in France. A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for [my kids], it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Boy’s preschool eye exam uncovers life-saving cancer diagnosis

Click here for updates on this story    BARDSTOWN, Kentucky (WLKY) -- A 4-year-old boy from Bardstown, Kentucky, is back in school after a routine preschool eye exam uncovered a rare and life-threatening eye cancer.Hayden Rouse was 3 years old when his mother, Terra, took him to have a routine checkup for his hemangioma. Terra said at that appointment the doctor noticed a mass.“It was a very large tumor, unfortunately. But it sat in a good spot that he was able to get arterial chemo,” Rouse said.Hayden had retinoblastoma, a rare childhood eye cancer that, if caught early enough, can be cured.Hayden and his family spent months traveling to Wisconsin for treatment. While the chemotherapy successfully eliminated the tumor, it caused significant side effects, including shrinking his eye and blurring his vision.“On July 29, we took him in. You know, he wore his Spider-Man costume to the O.R., and he had his eye removed," Rouse said. "And now, we're done."After completing his treatment, Hayden celebrated by ringing the bell, a milestone for cancer patients."He's not missed a beat. He has confirmed to us that he was not using that eye, because there's been no adaptation for him. Within two days of being home, he was off. He was on running, playing, jumping all the things," said Rouse. “We’ve gotten Hayden back. And that has been the biggest thing for me."Now, Hayden is back to school and enjoying life as a typical 4-year-old.His mom said he will get his prosthetic eye, complete with an engraving of his favorite superhero, Spider-Man, in a few weeks.Dr. Heather Felton with Norton Children’s echoed Rouse’s message about the importance of routine checkups.“The whole reason we’re doing it is to check for things like abnormalities in the eye or in the ear. Sometimes I pick up things like a new heart murmur or a mass in the abdomen. There could be all kinds of different things,” Felton said.“Hayden’s life was saved by a required preschool eye exam, fortunately. Or else we might have not known for months,” Rouse said.To help the Rouse family with medical expenses, proceeds from the "Buck Haven" Car Show on Oct. 17 in New Haven, Kentucky, will go to the family. All cars are welcome to enter.Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
Read Next Story