It’s official – it pays to be friends with George Clooney.

He’s not exactly short of cash, given that he’s been one of Hollywood’s leading men for years and flogged his tequila company for $1 billion, but he hasn’t forgotten his tjommies who helped him to the top.

Back in 2013 he invited 14 of his closest guy friends, referred to as ‘The Boys’, around to his house for dinner. According to Rande Gerber, husband to Cindy Crawford, they were in for a surprise.

We’ll let Rande tell that story via ET:

“There’s a group of guys we call ‘The Boys,'” Gerber shared. “George had called me and ‘The Boys’ and said, ‘Hey, mark September 27th, 2013, on your calendar. Everyone’s going to come to my house for dinner.'”

At the dinner, Clooney’s pals were surprised with designer luggage bags at each seat on the table — each containing a million dollars in $20 bills. Gerber noted that not all of the actor’s friends were rich, with some struggling to support their families.

“George begins to say, ‘Listen, I want you guys to know how much you’ve meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life,'” Gerber recalled. “‘I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. I’m so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldn’t be where I am today without all of you. So, it was really important to me that while we’re still all here together, that I give back. So I want you all to open your suitcases.'”

Not surprisingly, Gerber said he and the actor’s pals were “in shock.”

“Every one of us — 14 of us — got a million dollars,” he marveled. “Every single one of us. We’re in shock. Like, what is this? He goes, ‘I know we’ve all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You don’t have to worry about your kids, you don’t have to worry about, you know, school, you don’t have to worry about paying your mortgage.'”

“I mean these are guys that took care of George and now he’s giving it all back,” Gerber added. “And George said, ‘Not only that, I have paid everyone’s taxes so this million dollars is yours.'”

He even paid their bloody taxes.

The best thing a friend has done for me this year has been to cancel on a midweek drink that I wasn’t really keen on.

Now you might be thinking that Rande is getting a little greedy, considering that he is’t strapped for cash, but here’s where Clooney gets clever:

Gerber, who is part-owner of Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila brand, which sold for $1 billion earlier this year, was reluctant to accept the money: “I pull him aside and said, ‘I absolutely am not taking this million dollars.’

Immediately, George goes, ‘I’m just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesn’t take the million dollars, nobody gets it.’”

Hey, you don’t want to be the guy who prevents all the boytjies from that briefcase full of cash, do you?

Gerber says he donated his million to charity, but in the end maybe George was the real winner:

Gerber noted that Clooney may have gotten his own reward for his generous gift.

“That was September 27th, 2013. Now September 27, 2014, he marries Amal,” he pointed out. “That’s good karma right there.”

Karma indeed. I think the best karma was not posting about it on Facebook, or making an Instagram story about how selfless he was.

Currently auditioning new friends – please send your CV and a briefcase of cash to the 2OV offices.

[source:et]