Video Of George Clooney Hearing About Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt Is Painful To Watch

It's not just the kids who suffer when a couple divorces. When a marriage ends, friends usually find out from a phone call or maybe a text message, not from a reporter. But George Clooney heard about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt live on TV, and it was awkward and sad all around. Clooney was at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, attending a round table with President Obama addressing the refugee crisis when TMZ broke the story of Jolie and Pitt's divorce, which was soon confirmed by the couple.

Veteran journalist and CNN senior UN correspondent Richard Roth, who's covered the Gulf War, the Tienanmen Square uprising, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, was tasked with stepping outside his comfort zone to cover Hollywood gossip, because he just so happened to be in the vicinity of a close friend of the couple. He appears reluctant as he asks Clooney for his thoughts on the "big story" involving "Angelina and your friend, Brad." But it gets worse; Clooney had no idea what Roth was referring to; he hadn't heard the news yet. Watch as he fights out about the divorce of his friend of 15 years on live TV:

Clooney appears momentarily stunned upon hearing the D-word, then quickly recovers. "I didn't know that. Wow. That's... I feel very sorry, then. They're, uh... That's, that's a sad story and unfortunate for a family, uh, it's an unfortunate story about, uh... about a family. I feel very sorry to hear that. That's the first I've heard of it, so..." Poor George. Poor Richard. Poor everyone involved in this mess, honestly. That's a terrible way to hear some sad news about your friends, and Roth must feel gross after unwittingly blindsiding Clooney like a common paparazzo.

Clooney and Pitt first met while filming 2001's Ocean's Eleven, and their friendship developed over their famous love of playing practical jokes on each other on set. Over the years, they've both praised each other in the press for both their acting and humanitarian work. Clooney seemed genuinely thrilled when Pitt and Jolie finally wed in 2014 after being together for 12 years; when asked for comment by ABC News at the time, he said, "How great is that?! I'm really happy for Brad and Angie and their whole family." Jolie is reportedly suing for sole custody of the couple's six children; let's hope they agree to joint custody of Clooney.