George Clooney: Awkward Proposal Took 25 Minutes

George Clooney went on Ellen DeGeneres' show Thursday, where he told the story of how he proposed to his now-wife Amal—and it was a doozy. As Clooney explained, the couple hadn't discussed the idea of getting married, so Amal had no idea what was going on, despite the fact that George had his aunt Rosemary Clooney's "Why Shouldn't I?" playing and had cooked dinner for Amal. He asked her to reach into a box behind her and grab a lighter to light a candle. He had hidden the engagement ring in the box, "and she pulls it out and she looks at it and she's like, 'It's a ring,' like somebody had left it there some other time."

Even after Clooney got on one knee and told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, she remained baffled. "There was a playlist, so we now know how long it actually took, and it's like 25 minutes," Clooney said. "I finally said, 'Look, I hope the answer's yes, but I need an answer, 'cause I'm 52 and I could throw out my hip pretty soon.'" (Click to see what a gushing George recently had to say about his wife.)