Matt Damon: I fought back tears when I heard Clooneys are expecting twins

Damon said he fought back tears when his Ocean’s Eleven co-star broke the news to him last year when Amal was just eight weeks’ pregnant.

He told Entertainment Tonight Canada: “I was working with him last fall and he pulled me aside on set and, I mean, I almost started crying.

“I was so happy for him. And I was like, ‘How far along is she?’ And he goes, ‘Eight weeks’.

“(I said) ‘Are you out of your mind? Don’t tell anybody else! Don’t tell anybody else! Don’t you know the 12-week rule?’ Of course he doesn’t. I was like, ‘just shut up, man’.”

Damon, who was a guest at the Clooneys’ wedding, added: “I’m thrilled for him. She’s amazing. He hit the jackpot. Just on every level. She is a remarkable woman. They’re going to be great.

“They’re going to be awesome parents. Those kids are lucky.”

Clooney, 55, and renowned human rights barrister Amal, 39, married in Venice in September 2014.

US television show The Talk first reported the news of the pregnancy when host Julie Chen told viewers that “the twins are due this June”.

Rumours about a possible pregnancy started last month when Amal attended a Netflix screening in London apparently showing a baby bump.

They are not be the only celebrity parents expecting a multiple birth in 2017 - Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z announced last week that they were expecting twins.

Clooney had previously said he had thought about the prospect of becoming a father but “it hasn’t been high on my list”.

He told CBS This Morning in 2015: “I’ve been asked it a lot lately, because I’ve gotten married and I am doing a movie with kids in it.

“You should see how different, how creative the way they ask me.”

Amal, whose family moved to Britain in the 1980s after fleeing the Lebanese Civil War, is known for having represented a string of high-profile clients including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Representatives for the Clooneys could not be reached.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres was one of many to congratulate the pair on Twitter.

“It’s twins for George and Amal! I thought I noticed a baby bump. Congrats, you two!”, she wrote.

She mocked up a snap of Clooney holding up the message “we’re having twins” and sitting in the same pose as Beyonce - under a veil and against a backdrop of flowers - when she made her announcement.

Other fans also pointed to the spate of baby news, with Pharrell Williams also becoming a father to triplets.

Jenny Hutchinson wrote: “Okay, there is definitely something in the water: Pharrell - triplets. Beyonce - twins. George Clooney - twins. Congrats to all!”

Wajahat Ali joked: “More people of colour inside Amal Clooney and Beyonce right now than entire Trump administration. The Resistance grows (and is cute!)”

B Rubes wrote: “Sorry I haven’t got time to talk I’m too busy writing... about Amal Clooney and Beyonce going to the same pre-natal classes.”

Matt Hanvey superimposed a picture of Clooney’s head on to Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement picture and wrote: “Aww! #GeorgeClooney is having twins too!”

Zakiya Jamal joked: “Beyonce to George and Amal Clooney...You kinda stole my thunder!”