George Clooney admits talking to Amal, internationally renowned human rights lawyer, makes him feel like an ‘idiot’

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George Clooney has admitted he often feels like an “idiot” when talking to his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

The Gravity actor described the ways in which his wife challenges him by encouraging him to try new experiences, telling US Weekly she picked the location to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

Clooney, who said he is a creature of habit, explained: “I might want to go down the street to the same sushi bar that I could eat at four nights a week. . . . She’s like, 'No, that's not going to happen—not for the anniversary! We’re not going to do that!’

“I'm an idiot. Often at times, I feel like an idiot talking to my own wife. It’s never good!”

Clooney’s struggle to feel like his wife’s intellectual equal is understandable considering her 15-year career as a human rights barrister. Amal is currently leading an international delegation attempting to secure the release of the former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, who is being held on terrorism charges by the current government. In January, she represented Armenia in their case against Doğu Perinçek, the leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, and she recently defended convicted Canadian Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt.

Geoffrey Robertson, the noted lawyer and author, highlighted her formidable record in response to dismissive comments from the Justice Minister suggesting she could be given high profile cases because of the publicity generated by her marriage.

"Before her marriage, she had served as a Senior Advisor to Kofi Annan when he was the UN Special Envoy for Syria and was counsel to a UN inquiry into the legality of drone warfare. She had represented parties at the International Court of Justice, including the Government of Cambodia in a border dispute with Thailand," he said in a statement.

"She had acted for Julian Assange and for the Former Prime Minister of the Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko. She also worked with the former Legal Advisor to the Foreign Office, Sir Frank Berman, who has described her as “a first-rate lawyer’. It was because of her conspicuous ability as an international lawyer that the Attorney-General appointed her in 2013 - before her marriage - to serve on his panel of experts to advise and represent this country."