To everyone else, Amal Clooney is a celebrity. But tell that to the high-powered human rights lawyer, and she'll play coy and shyly shake her head.
The 37-year-old attorney sat down with NBC News' Cynthia McFadden, her first-ever American network television interview, to discuss her current legal battle. It was all business when Clooney discussed calling for sanctions against members of the Maldives' current regime until they free her client Mohamed Nasheed, who led the island nation for three years before being forced out and jailed with a 13-year sentence for a terrorism charge.
There was no talk about her famous husband George Clooney, but the Oxford-educated lawyer admitted that her rise to fame after marrying the superstar a year ago does help shed some light onto the cases that matter most.
"I think it's wonderful that celebrities would choose to spend their time or energy or the spotlight that they have to raise awareness about these causes," she told McFadden. "I don't really see myself in the same way because I'm still doing the same job that I used to before. If there's more attention paid for whatever reason to that, then I think that's good."
Clooney added, "I think there is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with that. And I think I'm exercising it in an appropriate manner by continuing to do this kind of work."
The lawyer and her co-counsel filed a case with the United Nations on April 30, 2015, "urging it to declare (Nasheed's) detention arbitrary and in violation of international law."
Clooney has met with several members of Congress, including Senator John McCain, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski and Senator Patrick Leahy to help her fight.