Rande Gerber Reveals What He Did with the $1 Million George Clooney Gifted Him 10 Years Ago (Exclusive)

A decade ago, Rande Gerber was among the 14 friends longtime pal George Clooney gifted $1 million to.

Now, the businessman, 61, is revealing what he did with that money.

"I gave it away," Gerber tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. "I didn't need it at the time, so I told George, 'Please, I do not want this.' Of course, George being George, he said, 'If anyone does not take this money, then no one gets it.' I knew some of his friends at the time were not doing so great, so I took it and donated it."

At the time, Gerber says Clooney, 62, wanted all of his friends to be able to say "we are sitting here, and we are all millionaires." He also paid all of their taxes for the year.

"It was an incredibly thoughtful gift," he says. "But that is truly the kind of friend George is."

2023 also marks 10 years that Gerber and Clooney have been in business together with their tequila company, Casamigos.

"I can’t believe it's been 10 years, because it’s still as fun and as exciting as it was from the day we launched," Gerber says. "I knew back then that we created something that was different from other tequilas on the market, but we never thought, 'Let’s create the best-selling tequila in the world.' We’re extremely happy with where we are at today."

To celebrate the milestone anniversary, Gerber and Clooney launched Casamigos' new Cristalino tequila on June 1.

"It's a little bit of a different flavor profile," Gerber says. "What we did, which is different than some of the other Cristalinos out there, is instead of using our Añejo, we used our Casamigos Reposado for ours. And the process is you filter that through a charcoal filter, and that not only takes the color out, but it also changes the flavor profile a little bit because our Reposado sits in white oak barrels that were previously used to age whiskey. As with all of our tequilas, we wanted to keep it super smooth."

Now that his kids Presley, 23, and Kaia, 21, with wife Cindy Crawford, are all grown up, Gerber says he's been able to impart some career wisdom to them.

"More so Presley for me, since he’s getting into real estate, and he likes to learn about finance," he says. "Fortunately, he's a very creative person, and he has a great eye."

"Kaia was going to Cindy more with the modeling stuff, but she’s really paved her own path," he continues. "They do come to us on occasion to ask advice, whether it’s about business or relationships. I'm happy to give it to them, but I try not to volunteer too much."

Considering they just celebrated 25 years of marriage on May 29, it's certainly fair to say Gerber and Crawford, 57, are experts on relationships.

"It’s important in relationships to remain friends," Gerber says. "Go out, have fun, laugh and try not to take life too seriously. Let loose and enjoy the time that we do have."

Despite his successful business career, Gerber says his proudest moment has "definitely" been "getting married and having kids."

"Nothing comes close, that’s for sure," he says.