George Clooney Thinks Being A Dad Is "Terrifying" & He's Not Wrong

George Clooney may be one of the most well-known movie stars on the planet, but he's just like everybody else in one very important way: New parenthood freaks him out, big-time. In fact, George Clooney said being a dad is "terrifying" in a recent appearance as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday. And Clooney may just be twice as scared as lots of other parents, famous or not, because he and wife Amal Clooney welcomed not one, but two babies back in June. The public has yet to see any official photos of 4-month-old twins, Ella and Alexander, but Clooney has been forthcoming about his likely transition from bachelorhood to family man and father of two.

Now that the 56-year-old actor is the first-time dad to a son and a daughter all at once, he's getting a double dose of all the ways that parents worry about making a big mistake when taking care of their kids. When Kimmel asked him about how it was going, he didn't hesitate:

Listen, I'm scared to death, it's terrifying. You're afraid of breaking them. They're so little.

It's a fear that so many new parents have had. After all, infants are incredibly fragile and completely dependent. It would be pretty darn disconcerting having to deal with two of them after 56 years of never once having to worry about that.

For his part, Kimmel, who has two adult children and two very young ones — including baby Billy, who was born with a heart condition that required him to have open heart surgery when he was just days old — reassured Clooney. "Are you still in that fear stage?" he asked. "You get over it."

This isn't the first time that Clooney has talked about how scary it is to be a parent. In a September interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he admitted that his first thought when Ella and Alexander were born was "I hope I don't screw this up." What new parent hasn't thought that once or twice (or a million times a day)?

Still, it's a thought that Clooney likely never expected to have. Before meeting Amal Clooney and marrying her in 2014, he had long insisted that he didn't want kids and would never have them. That was certainly how he felt way back in 2006, but he left a little wiggle room on the subject in an interview with People magazine:

I think it's the most responsible thing you can do, to have kids. It's not something to be taken lightly. I don’t have that gene that people have to replicate. But everything in my life has changed over time.

And change it did — and Clooney had a little fun with the sudden reversal of his longstanding reputation when Amal gave birth to the twins over the summer. A statement the couple released announcing the big news that Ella and Alexander were here quipped that "George is sedated and should recover in a few days" after confirming that they and their mother were doing well.

But he's better now, everyone. From waking up with Amal when she nurses during the night to tricking Kimmel's audience into thinking that they were there for their public debut, he's clearly a dedicated dad and husband with serious dad jokes to boot.

Not too long ago, Clooney fans would have been shocked to learn that the actor would one day become a father. One day soon, though, there will be public photos of him holding his babies (there has to be, right?) and considering everything he's had to say on the subject of fatherhood, he surely will look like quite the natural. Even if he's still a bit scared.

Watch Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries:

Check out the entire Romper's Doula Diaries series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.