Richard Gere’s Wife Alejandra Silva Opened Up About ‘Sweetest, Most Romantic Dream’ She Had For Her Relationship

May 09, 2022 by apost team

American actor Richard Gere, 73, has been a leading man in Hollywood since he began appearing in films in the 1970s. Although he's been in many major films over the last decades, two of his best-known roles are as Edward Lewis in "Pretty Woman," where he played a rich playboy from New York who falls in love with a Hollywood prostitute portrayed by Julia Roberts, and as lawyer Billy Flynn in the hit musical "Chicago."

Gere was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for both roles, and while he missed out on winning the award for "Pretty Woman," he landed the Best Actor gong for "Chicago" in 2003.

These days Gere isn't as prominent in Hollywood as he once was but despite not being in the spotlight as much, there is no doubt that he left a major mark on Tinseltown.

What's more, along with the praise for his long list of critically acclaimed movies, the actor has always been an outspoken activist. He's spoken publicly about human rights violations in Tibet and boycotted the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Gratitude, an honor bestowed upon him by the Albanian president in 2012 for his contributions toward unmasking the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1999. 

Despite playing leading men in dramas throughout his long career, Gere has largely stayed out of drama in his personal life. He's shown himself to be an honest man who isn't afraid to speak up on issues he believes in.

Since 2018, Gere has been married to Spanish publicist Alejandra Silva, who is 33 years his junior. But despite their over three-decade age gap, Silva has said she's not bothered by it. Read on to find out more about their relationship.

Gere began his acting career in the late '60s, not long after he dropped out of college where he was on a gymnastics scholarship with a major in philosophy. Soon after he left college, he got involved in theater. He originally got his start in productions in the late '60s and early '70s in both Seattle and Cape Cod, but it wasn't until Gere landed the role of Danny Zuko in the original 1973 London stage version of the popular musical "Grease" that he would break through in the industry.

The actor moved to Hollywood soon after his theater breakthrough and after he appeared in the 1980 film "American Gigolo" his career only continued to rise. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Gere starred in some of the era's best romantic films including "An Officer and a Gentleman," "Internal Affairs," and of course, the iconic, "Pretty Woman." 

A major pop culture moment of the 1990s, "Pretty Woman" was the movie that shot Julia Roberts to stardom. The actress won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Vivian Ward, while Gere was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. But Gere revealed to Today in 2015 that he almost didn't do the movie and it was Roberts who convinced him in the end:

“To be honest, I didn’t know if I was doing this movie yet. She’s across the desk, we’re getting to know each other, we’re flirty-flirty, nice-nice ... And (director Garry Marshall) calls up and it’s kind of like, ‘How’s it going?’ And I’m going, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and she takes a piece of paper. She turns it around, and she pushes it to me. It said, ‘Please say yes.’ It was so sweet. And I was like (miming talking on the phone), I just said yes.”

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We're sure that Gere is incredibly happy that Roberts managed to convince him to be in "Pretty Woman." At that point, Gere had two Golden Globe nominations under his belt and Hollywood at his fingertips. In the '90s he appeared in films "Primal Fear," "The Jackal" and he even reunited with Roberts in "Runaway Bride." In 2002 he starred in the musical "Chicago" and finally won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

But while Gere continued to act, his star was nowhere near as strong as it was during his peak in the '80s and early '90s. If you ask the actor, there's a clear reason for that and it has to do with his being outspoken on a series of issues regarding China, starting in 1993. Decades later in 2017, Gere opened up about how his activism caused him to be shunned by mainstream Hollywood, which led him to focus on more independent films instead.

What some people might not know about the actor is that alongside his glamorous career, Gere has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for decades. He's spoken about his meditation practice in the past and he even considers the Dalai Lama a friend. 

With his interest in Tibet, Gere became more vocal in his support for the country and began to publicly denounce China's influence over Tibet. This led him to make an unexpected statement at the 1993 Academy Awards as he was about to present the award for Art Direction. In his speech, the actor called out the "horrendous, horrendous human rights situation there is in China, not only towards their own people but to Tibet as well." Although the audience applauded his speech, the stunt didn't impress the producer of the awards show Gil Cates, who was furious and vowed to ban Gere from the Oscars in the future.

However, barely a few years later, Gere starred in the movie "Red Corner" (1997), in which he played an American lawyer who's wrongfully accused of murder in China. After he started to promote the movie, he told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2017 interview that "everyone was happy with the film," but later he got a call from the heads of MGM who told him they didn't want him to do press for the movie. He explained:

"MGM wanted to make an overall deal with the Chinese. China told them, ‘If you release this film, we’re not buying it.’ And so, they dumped it.”

The film was still released but didn't do well and was mired in controversy. These incidents are just a few examples of when Gere has stood for what he believes is right, while his career has felt the repercussions. 

He also called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while two foundations he started — International Campaign for Tibet and The Gere Foundation — have caused him to be banned from China for life. Gere opened up about the topic in the same THR interview. He said:

“There are definitely movies that I can’t be in because the Chinese will say, ‘Not with him. I recently had an episode where someone said they could not finance a film with me because it would upset the Chinese.” 

China is a huge market for Hollywood and the bottom line, it seems, is that Gere doesn't sell well there due to his outspoken criticism of the country and its government. 

In another example, Gere told THR about being ousted from an independent movie that wasn't even being financed by the big studios. He explained:

“There was something I was going to do with a Chinese director, and two weeks before we were going to shoot, he called saying, ‘Sorry, I can’t do it.' We had a secret phone call on a protected line. If I had worked with this director, he, his family would never have been allowed to leave the country ever again, and he would never work.”

But despite being persona non grata at both Hollywood awards shows and in China, Gere doesn't seem fazed and he's said that he prefers to make indie movies anyway. He said in the same interview:

“The studios are interested in the possibility of making huge profits. But I’m still making the same films that I was making when I started. Small, interesting, character-driven and narrative-driven stories. It hasn’t impacted my life at all.”

But outside of his career, Gere has also had a rich personal life. Married three times in total, one thing that all three relationships have in common is a large age difference between Gere and his wives.

Gere's first wife was supermodel Cindy Crawford, whom he was married to from 1991 to 1995. While he was 42 at the time, Crawford was just 25 and among other reasons for their breakup, was the couple's 17-year age difference. Decades later, Crawford opened up about aspects of why their relationship didn't work in an interview with People:

“I think part of the problem in our relationship was that we were a lot of other things, but I don’t know if we were ever friends — like peers, because I was young, and he was Richard Gere."

Crawford went on to add that they didn't spend enough time together as a couple and getting to know each other, instead, they convinced themselves they could jet in from other sides of the world to see each other. Ultimately, this type of long-distance relationship took its toll on their union. 

Gere married his second wife, model and actress Carey Lowell, in 2002, and at the time, he was 53 and she was 41. Together, they had a son named Homer. But eventually, they separated after 11 years of marriage and finally divorced in 2016 after some rather heated court battles that are speculated to be mostly about money.

After their split, Gere met his third wife Alejandra Silva, who he is still together with today. The pair first met in 2014 at a film festival and started dating, although Silva was in the process of divorcing her first husband when she became involved with Gere. They officially came out as a couple in 2015 before they became engaged and eventually married in 2018. At the time Gere was 68 while Silva was just 35, which makes their age gap 33 years. But despite this, the couple seems to be incredibly happy together. 

In Feb. 2019, Gere and Silva welcomed a son named Alexander, who is their first child together. Then, just over a year later in April 2020, the couple was reported to have had a second child together, however, their name still isn't known as the couple has been very private with regard to their children. 

Ever since their relationship became public, Silva has made it clear that their 33-year age gap does not mean anything at all to her. She spoke about their connection to Hola!, as reported by Closer Weekly. She said:

"Our karma was attracted the moment we saw each other ... I’m not ignoring our age difference and what it means to be with a Hollywood star, but when there’s such a strong karmic energy, the problems disappear."

Silva also told Hello! Magazine:

"In this life it had to be like this. He has promised me at least 20 good years! I have to confess that he has much more energy than me; he's much more active. I find it hard to keep up with him. He's not human!"

She also revealed a little about why she thinks their relationship works. She said: “I think I bring him stability. Above all, it helped I wasn’t an actress or a model." She elaborated further:

“I never had any interest in that. What has united us the most is our desire to help other people who need it, our commitment to Buddhism and the Tibetan people. And he was able to see my unconditional commitment as a humanitarian, as a person, as a woman … It’s the sweetest, most romantic dream I’ve ever had. That’s why I’ve decided to stay in it.”

It is safe to say that the couple continues to be madly in love and supports each other in everything they do! Love stories like this are rare in Hollywood, but Gere and Silva make it look easy.  

What do you think about Richard Gere and Alejandra Silva's love story? If you are a fan of the actor or know anybody who enjoys hearing about happily-ever-after love stories, pass this story on to others so they can enjoy it too!