Attending the Elle for Future 2024 event on November 27 in Madrid, Spain, Richard Gere and his activist wife, Alejandra Silva, were honoured for their social and environmental work.
Speaking on the red carpet, Gere, 75, joked that Silva, 41, “had no idea” who he was when they first met. “She didn’t see movies, which was great. I was very happy about that,” said Gere before Silva lightheartedly interrupted him. “No, wait a minute. Richard, I knew who you were,” she said, before Gere quipped, “She thought I was George Clooney, but other than that, she knew exactly who I was.”
It’s hard to imagine she wouldn’t have some idea who Gere was. The movie star and Hollywood heart-throb has been acting for over four decades, storming into the spotlight with back-to-back hits Days of Heaven, American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman between 1978-82. He then hit superstardom opposite Julia Roberts in ’90s rom-coms Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride. He also won critical acclaim in 1996 drama Primal Fear and musical Chicago, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2003. Silva says her favourite film of Gere’s is 2014 drama Time Out of Mind. “He’s so sexy there,” she said at the Elle event.
Gere reportedly crossed paths with his now wife while staying at her family-owned hotel in Positano in 2014. “A friend introduced us, we looked at each other and felt a very strong connection. We couldn’t stop looking at each other all night, and since then we haven’t been apart,” Silva told Hello! Magazine.
At the time, they were both going through break-ups. After 11 years of marriage, Gere was divorcing actress Carey Lowell, with whom he shares a son, Homer, born in 2000. He had also previously been married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. “Love stories with a complicated beginning, where you have to overcome difficulties together, can bring you closer,” Silva added to Hello! “But from very early on, we felt that we were destined to be together.”
The couple married in April 2018 and have gone on to welcome two sons: Alexander, 5, and James, 4. Silva also has an 11-year-old son named Albert with her ex-husband, Govind Friedland.
In April this year, Gere announced that he and his young family were moving from upstate New York to Spain. “For Alejandra, it will be wonderful to be closer to her family, her lifelong friends and her culture,” he told Vanity Fair Spain. “She was very generous in giving me six years living in my world, so it is only fair that I give her at least another six living in hers.”
Before making the move to Madrid in November, Gere was working on location in London on his second-ever TV role. He stars in The Agency, an espionage thriller co-starring Michael Fassbender (streaming now on Paramount+). He’ll also be appearing on the big screen, re-teaming with American Gigolo director Paul Schrader for indie film Oh Canada, co-starring Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi, who plays a younger version of Gere’s character.
Although he is still working hard, Gere, who has been a practising Buddhist since his twenties, says that he has his priorities straight. “I just want to go work in the garden. I just want to grow something nice and have some tea and hang out with my kids. Make love to my wife,” he told TV Insider in November. “That’s what I want to do.”
