George Clooney is well aware that his new wife, barrister Amal Clooney, is the whole package. The Hollywood star attended a charity gala alone on Monday (Mar. 2), with work commitments keeping his wife of five months at home, but George still gave his bride a lovely shout-out as he took the stage at the star-studded New York event and flubbed his lines.

George was attending the SeriousFun Children’s Network’s New York Gala, honouring the late Paul Newman. While trying to recall how many countries the charity has helped during his charming speech, he accidentally overestimated the number.

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“Since 1988, these camps have (helped) over a half million sick kids and their families from over five hun… – over 50 countries – five hundred countries would be too many,” he said. “There aren’t actually that many.”

As the audience chucked, George added, “My wife’s the smart one!”

Earlier in the evening, as he arrived for the event, George couldn’t help but gush about brilliant human rights lawyer Amal, who was unable to attend because of work commitments. "I’m very happy. It’s exciting," he told Extra of married life.

“I really love my wife, I’m having a great time and I’m very proud of her. I couldn’t be more proud of the things she does.”

The gala brought out a number of stars, including Danny DeVito, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and David Letterman. People reported that once inside, Tom choked-up as he introduced some of the children, who performed throughout the evening, and spent time on the stage with an 11-year-old girl and her mum. As he came close to losing it, the star paused for a moment then told the Lincoln Centre crowd: “I’m such a sap!”

SeriousFun highlights Paul Newman’s belief that fun can make a real difference in the lives of children who need it most. George closed his speech by describing the late Hollywood star, who passed away in 2008, as “the best version of us. And I don’t mean actors, I mean humans.”

Danny also paid a touching tribute to Paul’s legacy. “Somebody’s riding a zip line battling a heavy-duty disease,” he said. “Somebody’s laughing when they’re going through something that would make anybody cry. Knowing that there’s a kid acting like a kid when everybody looks at him like a patient.”