LONDON - George Clooney is a proud dad - but also a very exhausted one.

The actor and director has been protective of his twins, Ella and Alexander, even going as far as suing paparazzi who nabbed photos of the infants. Like any parent, Clooney was reportedly still eager to show a picture on his phone to a Daily Mail reporter.

“You can tell the boy from the girl, right?” he said in jest, in a Daily Mail exclusive interview.

He described the two through their quirks: “He’s twice the size she is. He’s a moose and she’s just this little tiny beautiful thing. They’re back in LA right now, and their mom sent these pictures this morning.”

Clooney once described Alexander as a “thug” and says Ella takes after their mother, lawyer Amal Clooney.

While he is clearly an adoring father, he also got honest about raising not one, but two babies: “I cry more than they do. I cry four times a day right now, because I’m so tired,” he quipped.

“All they want to do is eat, so I have nothing to give them except a bottle once in a while and they’re happy about that, but it’s mostly Amal for them at the moment. I don’t even really understand what’s going on.”

He also discussed the workload, and is all praises for his wife. “It’s not just twice as much work, it’s more than that. And it’s not even so much work for me, because these two knuckleheads don’t even care that I exist right now!”

“Knuckleheads” he uses fondly, and shared that family life came completely unexpected after he met Alamuddin. “Well, I have this incredible relationship... And then all of a sudden we have these two knuckleheads around who make me laugh every day.”

He feels the challenge and responsibility of parenthood is impressing upon his kids the privilege they have.

“I want to make sure my children understand they have been given things other children haven’t been by accident of birth,” he said in the interview. “They could just as easily have been born in Syria and their lives would have been completely different.”

He added, “It’s challenging to remind children who have been born into this glass of celebrity and money to have empathy for people who aren’t as fortunate as they are. That’s going to be Amal’s and my job to teach our children, and it’s an important one.” - Agencies