A Look at Richard Gere’s Life

Richard Gere was the dream actor of the 1980s and ’90s. Women wanted him, and men wanted to be him. He was linked with many actresses, starred in Pretty Woman, and married a supermodel and a Bond girl. He finally settled down after seven decades. 

Richard Gere was born in Philadelphia on August 31, 1949. 

The family moved from Philadelphia to Syracuse, New York, where they raised their middle son, sister, and brother. Richard graduated from high school in 1967. As a kid, he was good at sports, especially gymnastics. Richard loved music and played the trumpet.

He first appeared on stage in 1969 in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a play based on Hamlet.

In 1971, Richard starred in the off-Broadway play Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, a musical about folk musician Richard Fariña. Gere fell for Penelope Milford, who played Judith. The two actors dated on and off. 

Richard and Penelope dated for seven years and split up in 1978.

Gere dated Penelope and Sylvia while also seeing other women. He dated actresses Tuesday Weld, Carole Mallory, Barbra Streisand, and Susan Sarandon. That’s only half the women he dated!

Gere was a ladies’ man but also had a more profound side. They bonded over their love of Eastern philosophy. In 1978, the couple went to Nepal, where they met Tibetan monks, including the Dalai Lama.

Gere was one of the first Hollywood actors to play a gay character. His stand-out performance won him many fans in the LGBTQ+ community and art world and even a Theatre World Award.

In 1990, Richard starred in Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts. 

The film was a huge success, launching Julia Roberts’ career with an Oscar, making over $460 million, and earning Gere a second Golden Globe nomination.

The media said Richard was dating Julia Roberts but was dating Carey Lowell. She played Bond’s love interest in Licence to Kill. They fell in love and started dating in the late 1990s. Gere became her stepfather.

The couple had a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, in February 2000. Richard, 50, played music on a CD player while his first son was born.

Homer grew up in Westchester, New York. He loves sports, the arts, and music. He is currently studying cognitive neuroscience and visual art at Brown University.

In 2002, Gere married Carey Lowell, his Bond Girl. The couple married on their weekend property in Pound Ridge, New York. The only guests were Homer and Hannah.

The couple moved into a luxurious celebrity home. He paid $6.9 million for Strongheart Manor on Actors Colony Road in North Haven, Connecticut. It also has two guest houses, a fireplace, and a tea house on a 300-foot beach.

Gere sold Strongheart Manor to Matt Lauer for $36.5 million. Lauer sold the property three years later for $41 million.

He was happily married. He was a father and stepfather. Everything was great! 

Gere’s career worsened after marrying Carey and becoming a father. Another rom-com, 2004’s Shall We Dance?, was a flop. The following year, the drama Bee Season could have done better. 2006’s The Hoax and The Hunting Party were flops.

Gere and Carey separated after 11 years of marriage. Hollywood’s longest marriage was over. But the divorce was beginning.

They quickly agreed on joint custody of Homer. The divorce settlement was contested and in court for three years, but they finally agreed in October 2016. Some reports say the divorce cost Gere $100 million.

In 2014, Gere started dating Alejandra Silva. 

The relationship worked, and they got married in 2018. 

At 69, Gere became a father again. They had a baby together in February 2019, named Alexander. They had a second son in April 2020, but the couple hasn’t announced the name of their second son.

From her previous marriage to Uranium mine magnate Govind Friedland, Alejandra’s son, Albert, makes a blended family of six-eight, if you include Homer and Hannah.

In February 2023, the 73-year-old actor had a health scare. Gere caught pneumonia on vacation in Mexico with his family.

Richard recovered from pneumonia and saw his latest romantic comedy, Maybe I Do, in theaters. Later, he filmed two more movies: a comedy-drama called Longing and Paul Schrader’s upcoming drama, Oh, Canada.

This Hollywood icon keeps going! Alejandra said in 2018, “He promised me 20 good years!” He has more energy and is more active than me. “It’s hard to keep up with him. He’s not human!” Could you not call him Tiffany?