George Clooney & Stacy Keibler: Exclusive pics!

Stacy Keibler, huh? Look at the way he's looking at her in these exclusive first photos of the two of them together, which the awesome Hello! Canada Magazine caught. Turn the page, and you see hugging and more laughing.

I first learned about George's relationship with the 31-year-old actress, model and former WWE wrestler on the red carpet at the Hello! Canada TIFF party (photos to come). ETalk's Lainey Lui was talking to the Hello! Canada reporter, whom I was standing beside, about the latest festival gossip, and Clooney (50) and Keibler were the number-one item (Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes were number two -- sorry, Gorgeouses!). There were also some tweets about their Toronto "PDA"s, etc., etc.

So how did this surprising relationship get started (so soon after George's breakup with Elisabetta Canalis)? According to Hello!, they've known each other for 5 years -- ever since George complimented Stacy on her performance during Season 2 of Dancing with the Stars:
"George Clooney came up to me and he was like 'You're so great. You should win,'" Stacy recounted in 2006. "And I said, 'You watch Dancing with the Stars?'"

Interestingly, George's former girlfriend Elisabetta (32) is on this season of Dancing with the Stars. Hmmm....

In their exclusive interview, George opens up to Hello! Canada about how he stays grounded and positive despite failures, crediting his good friends (among them, his new costar in the upcoming film Gravity, Sandra Bullock) and his father. Here are some snippets:

I've made mistakes in my career and I've made mistakes in judgment in my life over the years. The secret is how you handle it....I don't find failure to be things that I tried and failed -- I don't think that's failure...I think failures are the things that I wish I tried and I didn't do. That's the truth.

...I look for my friends to have the exact same qualities that I most appreciate, which is a great sense of humour, an interest in humanity and great fun -- which they do.

...My father always said to me, "Don't come back and look me in the eye unless you've done these things." I was taught at a very young age that it won't make you the most popular kid in school, but you have to do what's right.

I kind of love him even more now, Gorgeouses. And once you read the WHOLE interview, you'll love him even more -- even if you're not a Stacy Keibler fan....

Many thanks to our friends at Hello! Canada for the pics and deets! Check out this fab, jam-packed 5th-anniversary edition, on stands NOW!

Love!

xo Haley-O