Human rights attorney, UN special adviser, Internationally acclaimed barrister - these are just some of the accomplishments that Barbara Walters could have listed off to describe her top pick for her 2014 Most Fascinating Person of the Year. Instead, Walters declared that Amal Clooney's biggest achievement was marrying the self-declared Bachelor forever, George Clooney.
Many agree that there is not much to hate about Amal Clooney. Her brains, career success, exquisite fashion sense, and yes, even her husband, make her a fascinating woman indeed. Even before she said her "I do's" and took on her husband's last name, she was already a well-respected and admired international human rights lawyer.
Born in Beirut Lebanon in February 1978, Amal Alamuddin moved with her family to London at the height of the Lebanese civil war in the 1980's. She studied at Oxford for University and also at the New York University School of Law.
Her professional career saw her representing high-profile clients such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, and in October 2014, she became involved in the repatriation of the Elgin Marbles from Ancient Greece which have been in the British Museum since 1816.
According to the annual special that Barbara Walters hosts at the end of each year, her picks for 2014's Most Fascinating People was very woman-centric this year. Other women who will be featured on the Sunday evening special will be Oprah Winfrey, Chelsea Handler, Taylor Swift, and Scarlett Johansson.
When Walters described Clooney as her top pick for the year, she forewent all of her professional accomplishments working and said that it was her wedding to a Hollywood actor that put her on the radar.
"You could say hers was the wedding of the year. But let's put it into perspective: It was really one of the greatest achievements in human history," Walters said.
Despite the introduction that does not seem to do justice to her bigger achievements, Amal Clooney is in good company at the top of Walter' Most Fascinating People List. Since the beginning of the yearly special in 1993, other top people named have included Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
