Tragic Details About Richard Gere

On the surface, Richard Gere's life seems charmed. After all, he's an A-list actor who has built a sprawling career and was the "it guy" of an era. With acting credits dating back to 1973, his biggest roles include Zack Mayo in "An Officer and a Gentleman," Julian Kay in "American Gigolo," and Edward Lewis in "Pretty Woman." He also notably starred in the 2002 film "Unfaithful" opposite Diane Lane, an actor who has experienced her own tragic life events, including a painful neck injury she suffered while filming that movie. He's also found success on the small screen, most recently landing a main role on the TV series "The Agency: Central Intelligence." As of this writing, Gere has won 24 awards throughout his career, including a Golden Globe for his performance in 2002's "Chicago."

What's more, he's a humanitarian who regularly advocates for causes that are important to him. Gere is the first to recognize his own good fortune, and he's long made a point of using his platform for good. "I feel grateful, but not guilty," he said when asked about how he feels about his privilege by El País in 2025. "I'm grateful for not having to worry about paying rent or feeding my children, and for being able to choose the projects I participate in. That sense of gratitude never leaves me, and I do feel responsible for giving back, a responsibility I try to approach with humility."

As privileged and fortunate as he may be, the silver screen icon's story hasn't always been so shiny. Gere has endured a number of challenges throughout his career as well as his personal life. 

For a number of actors, making it big in the entertainment industry requires sacrifice. For Richard Gere, that sacrifice was food. In 2023, the star recalled the struggle to make ends meet in New York City early on, noting that despite landing gigs, he was often hungry. "I was starving during the '70s as an actor just at the start of my career, just trying to making it," he told Page Six. "I was lucky enough to work, but there weren't many actors making any money back then. I was doing Broadway for the first time. I actually did off-Broadway, then off-off-Broadway."

The Page Six interview took place when Gere was serving as a co-chair for City Harvest's 40th Anniversary Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. City Harvest is a food rescue organization focused on getting nourishing food that would likely go to waste to those in need. "In New York, nobody made any money. Unfortunately, hungry was a normalcy. Being hungry was the norm for many people, but especially actors starting their journey in New York. That's why this organization is so important to me," he said of food charity City Harvest. "My go-to meal was eggs. Going out to eat at restaurants was not even a real thing for me. Those were some hard, desperate times." Gere's first notable check came in 1980 with the breakout film "American Gigolo," for which he reportedly received a salary of $350,000, plus a share of the project's future profits.

As a teen and early in his career, Richard Gere experienced loneliness and malaise — and eventually, these feelings would lead him to find his faith. "Suffering is very important. The worst kind is alienation suffering, which is probably true of most teenagers," he said during a 2002 interview with The Guardian. "I was habituated into seeing the universe in a certain way, then as I got older I realised it was not that way at all, and that disconnection creates enormous tension." 

Those feelings stuck with him even after he found tremendous success with his hit movies in the late '80s and early '90s. The "Pretty Woman" star grew uncomfortable with the level of celebrity he'd reached, so he tried to take a step back. "I said, 'Enough. I don't really like all this attention and I reacted like a wild animal. I don't wanna be looked at,'" the star shared on The Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast. As a result, he began to practice Buddhism and take on smaller roles that better aligned with his values. "I made some choices — not that I'm ashamed of it — but there were choices not to be in the big game," he added. "They were to be in a smaller game."

In 1993, Richard Gere was at the center of a major controversial Oscars moment. That year, the "Pretty Woman" actor went off script during a presentation of the nominees for Best Art Direction to call out China. As reported by the New York Post, he used his platform to call for Tibet's liberation. "I wondered if Deng Xiaoping is actually watching this right now, with his children and his grandchildren, and with the knowledge [of] what a horrendous, horrendous human rights situation there is in China, not only towards their own people but to Tibet as well," he said. "We could all kind of send love and truth and a kind of sanity to Deng Xiaoping right now in Beijing, that he will take his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and allow people to live as free independent people again." His unapproved speech landed him in hot water.

While one show producer did tell the Los Angeles Times (via Page Six) that he wouldn't invite Gere back to the show in the wake of his speech, a rep for the Academy told GQ that the actor was not technically banned from the Oscars. Gere would eventually return to the awards program in 2003 when "Chicago" was nominated for Best Picture. He also presented an award in 2013.

"I didn't take it particularly personally," Gere said of the backlash in Variety. "I didn't think there were any bad guys in the situation. I do what I do, and I certainly don't mean anyone any harm. I mean to harm anger. I mean to harm exclusion. I mean to harm human rights abuses." The star has been permanently banned from China and has lost out on some roles due to his negative standing with the country.

Actors Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford eloped in 1991 and divorced in 1995. Crawford, who is now married to Rande Gerber, would later say that her marriage to Gere started on rocky terrain because the actual ceremony was a little too impromptu for her liking. "Richard and I had been dating for several years, and at one point, I was like, 'Are we doing this or what?'" Crawford recalled in 2015, according to Us Weekly. And with that, the two headed to Las Vegas and eloped. "It wasn't the wedding I dreamed of," she said. "It was so last-minute, I wore this Armani suit. It was a nice Armani suit, but I didn't dream of getting married in a navy blue suit. And the ring was made out of tin foil because it was so last-minute."

At some point during their relationship, there was some speculation about whether or not both Gere and Crawford were gay and only together for the PR. The celebrity couple, who were 17 years apart in age, shared a statement to refute the rumor: "We are heterosexual and monogamous and take our commitment to each other very seriously. There is not and never has been a prenuptial agreement of any kind. Reports of a divorce are totally false. There are no plans, nor have there ever been any plans for divorce. We remain very married. We both look forward to having a family." 

However, that statement wouldn't age well as the actors would separate in 1994, citing irreconcilable differences for their divorce. In a 1996 interview with Charlie Rose, Gere described the experience as "painful" and said it took him years to heal from it. The former couple did not have any children together.

Richard Gere is no stranger to pain. In 2004, the humanitarian broke his hand in a horse-riding accident. Per UPI, Gere was out riding alone when he ended up throwing himself from his increasingly distressed horse after his foot got caught in the saddle. In his effort to prevent a more serious accident, he ended up landing on a rock and injuring his hand. He did not have his phone with him so he could not call anyone to come pick him up, so he walked all the way home with a freshly broken hand.

Another one of his injuries led to the production of "The Double" being shut down for six weeks. After insisting on not using a stunt double for a fight scene, Gere dislocated his shoulder. "We had been rehearsing for four weeks every night, and Richard was great, but he had a problem with his shoulder," British costar Tamer Hassan said in The Telegraph in 2010. "I said, 'Look, Richard, just slip in where you can.'But, oh, no, not Richard, he went: 'I want to do it.' He did it and dislocated his shoulder." When Gere recovered, he went on to complete the scene himself.

Richard Gere found himself in some legal trouble after kissing Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty during an AIDS awareness event in August 2007. The kiss on the cheek, which was intended to show that kissing won't spread HIV, brought significant cultural differences into the spotlight. In India, public displays of affection are deemed inappropriate, and Gere's actions sparked a major controversy.

"What is most important to me is that my intentions as an HIV/AIDS advocate be made clear, and that my friends in India understand that it has never been, nor could it ever be, my intention to offend you," Gere said in a statement at the time, per People. "If that has happened, of course, it is easy for me to offer a sincere apology."

The incident resulted in Gere facing obscenity charges in Rajasthan under ​​Indian Penal Code sections 292–294, the Information Technology Act section 67, and sections 4 and 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women. "Richard does not understand Hindi," Shetty said during a press conference, according to Time. "All he knows is that Bollywood is all about song and dance. So, he decided to give a dance pose with me to entertain the crowd." Still, according to Time, India's Hindu nationalists and protestors felt the act was disrespectful. Members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist outfit Shiv Sena gathered in Mumbai to express their outrage by defacing effigies of Gere and photos of Shetty. Charges against both actors have since been cleared.

Richard Gere was married to Carey Lowell for 12 years before the "Sleepless in Seattle" star filed for divorce in 2016. The couple had been separated for an unspecified amount of time before the divorce. "They have a place in Bedford [NY], and he likes it because it's quiet and he likes the solitude," an inside source reportedly told Page Six. "She likes being in North Haven in the limelight. They live next door to Jimmy Buffett and his family, and they're good friends." Lowell cited "lifestyle differences" as the primary reason for the split.

Richard Gere has three kids, including a son named Homer Gere who he shares with Lowell. "They'll do everything possible to keep things amicable and put their child first," a friend of Richard and Lowell told People in 2013. After Lowell filed for divorce, the couple spent four years battling over Richard's $45 million net worth. They eventually reached an undisclosed settlement. Richard went on to meet his current wife, Alejandra Silva, whom he married in 2018. Lowell has not remarried.

iIn July 2016, Richard Gere's mother, Doris T. Gere, died at 91 years old. Richard has never commented on his mother's passing, but loved the dynamic and relationship she had with his father. "My mother and father were married for over 70 years," Richard told The Guardian. "It's the sort of marriage I always aspired to having myself, but haven't yet managed." According to her obituary, Doris was a "vibrant, creative and intelligent woman" who loved quilting and raising her family. The New York native lived in North Syracuse for most of her life and was a mother of five.

While Richard has not said much in interviews about grieving the loss of his mother, he has expressed how much she shaped him into the person he is today. In a 2025 interview with El País, he shared that Doris not only showed him how important it is to care about other people, but played a key part in his very first acting role. "In second grade, I played Santa Claus. My mother made the costume and gave me a cotton beard. I was seven years old, and I remember it as a triumph," he said. 

In February 2023, Richard Gere was hospitalized for pneumonia while on vacation in Mexico. The star was vacationing with his family for his wife's birthday. The whole cohort became ill around the same time, but Richard spent a night in the hospital and received an antibiotic prescription. 

After Richard began recovering, Alejandra Gere (née Silva) let fans know how he was doing on Instagram. "Hi everyone, a little update, Richard is feeling much better, we are all feeling much better, 'almost' back to normal," she wrote. "We came to Mexico to continue with our conservation project south of Puerto Vallarta, we all came not feeling well from NY, our youngest James and Richard got Pneumonia and Alexander and I sinusitis and ear infections, now we are all well and almost fully recovered."

Pneumonia can be life-threatening, especially for those over 65. Richard, who was 74 years old at the time, may have experienced a productive cough, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing. Other symptoms may include nausea, fatigue, and chest pain. The illnesses impacted the family for the better half of a month. "Thank you all for the birthday wishes...after almost 3 weeks of everyone being sick in our family today finally I feel much better," Alejandra wrote on Instagram under a photo of her and their children walking on the beach. "Thank you for all the love I give it all back to you!" She later shared a "beach day" photo with Richard on her story, suggesting a full recovery.

Richard Gere's father, Homer Gere, passed away at the age of 100 in March 2023. Richard admired his father's generosity and selflessness. "I grew up in a Methodist house, with deeply compassionate people. Everyone thought my dad was going to become a minister," Richard told GQ. "He didn't, but he was very involved with the church, and, for most of his life, insurance was his profession, and he sold insurance like he was a minister — he was protecting people." Homer also served on the Career Education Advisory Council for the North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education, and he also supported Meals on Wheels for 25 years following his retirement. 

Over the years, Richard has followed in his dad's footsteps and championed Meals on Wheels. The father and son duo teamed up for an ad campaign for the nonprofit organization, and Richard even attended the North Syracuse chapter's fifth anniversary event in 2009. "Richard Gere is extremely passionate about his father's work," Meals on Wheels' then-Director Donna Barrett told Syracuse.com. "I looked around the room as he was talking, and there were folks with tears in their eyes." 

In the aforementioned interview with El País, Richard reflected on both of his parents' caring and compassionate nature. "[T]hey never lost their connection to the land, to the community, to the need to help others. I think my sense of duty to serve comes from that," he said. "Especially from my father, Homer, a man always willing to help."