George Clooney has shared the heartbreaking news that his sister, Adelia "Ada" Zeidler, has died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.
Ada died on Friday December 19, and George called Ada his "hero" in an emotional tribute. "My sister, Ada, was my hero," the actor told People magazine. "She faced down cancer with courage and humor. I’ve never met anyone so brave. Amal and I will miss her terribly."
Ada died "peacefully surrounded by the people she loved" at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky, according to her obituary.
"A talented artist, she shared her skills as an elementary art teacher at Augusta Independent School for several years," it read."In high school, her academic achievements qualified her to be a National Merit Scholar. Her love for reading connected her with other readers in a local book club. She was also a member of the Augusta Art Guild and was a past grand marshal of Augusta’s Annual White Christmas Parade."
Ada attended college in Louisville and Northern Kentucky and worked as a bookkeeper, spending her life in the family's hometown of Augusta.
She married Norman Zeidler, a retired army captain in 1987; he passed away in October 2004 of a sudden heart attack.
George was just a year younger than Ada, and so they were raised as close friends.
In a 2006 interview, George and Ada's mom Nina said: "I came home from work one day and George and our daughter and several friends were having a party in [a room of our house]. They had taken [marshmallows], and they would lick one side of them, and throw them at each other. When I came in, there were marshmallows stuck all over the room."
Although Ada maintained a private life despite her brother's fame, she did attend his A-list wedding to Amal in Venice in 2014, where she partied with his friends including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt & John Krasinski, Cindy Crawford & Rande Gerber, Bono, Bill Murray, and Anna Wintour.
In 2012 Ada gave a rare interview to the New York Daily News, during which she admitted she had once considered also going into acting; George and Ada's aunt was the famous 50s star Rosemary Clooney.
"Yes, there is a part of me that would very much like to have become a famous actress or something like that," she said. "I enjoy acting and I was fairly okay at it, but I did not have a thick enough skin for it."
© Metcalfe-Hennessey Funeral HomeBut she also spoke of George's them infamous bachelor status, sharing that he had "decided that in his life he could have the career, or he could have a family, and so, when he decided to go full bore into the acting, that was where his focus was going to be."
She also was very consdierate of his fame, admitting that she did not keep his phone numebr saved in her cell in case she ever lost it, adding: "He can phone me, and he does occasionally, but the email is more convenient for both of us."
Ada is mom to two children: son Nick Zeidler, and daughter Allison and her husband, Kenny Herolaga.
"I've got a niece and nephew," George proudly shared during an interview on CBS This Morning in 2015, quipping: "My nephew was just made prom king. From the high school that I went to where I was not named [prom king]."
A Funeral Mass will be offered at 12:00 Noon on Monday, December 22, 2025, and memorials are suggested to the Knoedler Memorial Library, 315 Main Street, Augusta, Kentucky, 41002.
