Cindy Crawford, 57, reveals how she ‘changed’ herself to make marriage work with Richard Gere, 74, in her early 20s in The Supermodels

She entered into a high-profile marriage at the age of 22 to one of the world’s biggest movie stars.

And now Cindy Crawford is looking back on her whirlwind relationship and marriage to Richard Gere.

The 57-year-old fashion icon recalled how she changed herself and her interests to match Gere’s when she started dating the Pretty Woman star in 1988 while reminiscing about her new Apple TV+ series The Supermodels , which also features interviews with fellow runway stars Naomi. Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.

In the documentary series, she recalled how she adopted some of Gere’s interests in Buddhism while trying to “mold” herself to better suit him.

She was 17 years younger than Gere, now 74, and the couple quietly eloped in 1991 after dating since 1988.

Whirlwind romance: Crawford, 57, eloped with Gere, 74, in 1991 after meeting three years earlier

According to Crawford, she had not yet developed enough of her own interests during her early marriage, so she absorbed many of Gere’s.

“Early in a relationship, as a young woman, you think, ‘Do you like baseball? I like baseball,'” she said.

‘You really like Tibetan Buddhism? Maybe I like that. I will try.’

Crawford referenced Gere’s well-known interest and devotion to Buddhism in her comments.

In his 20s, he became fascinated with Zen Buddhism, a more minimalist, meditation-oriented version of the popular religion that originated in China and spread through Asia before becoming popular in Japan.

But in the late 1970s he visited Nepal and met many practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, which places much more emphasis on rituals. Gere followed that trip with a meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama in India, where he lives after being exiled from Tibet.

“You’re willing to mold yourself around the person you’re in love with,” Crawford continued.

Although the brunette beauty seemed to regret playing such a passive role in her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1995, she also described an expansion of her horizons thanks to the social circles in which Gere moved.

“He was older, so I was just in a different circle and not doing the same fashionable things anymore,” she said.

Although Crawford scaled back her modeling work during her relationship with Gere, she also expanded her profile with more film and television work during and immediately after her marriage.

In 1989, a year after meeting the Chicago actor, she became the first host of MTV’s House Of Style, and during that period appeared on George Michael’s iconic Freedom! 90 music video – along with all her Supermodels costars – and she played Jon Bon Jovi’s girlfriend in his video for Please Come Home For Christmas.

Transformer: ‘In the beginning of a relationship, when you’re a young woman, you think, “Do you like baseball? I like baseball. Do you really like Tibetan Buddhism? Maybe I like that. I’ll try.” that,” she said, referring to Gere’s well-known religion; seen in 1994

Stunner: Crawford modeled less and started acting more during her time with Gere, but she impressed at the 1991 Oscars with her plunging red Versace dress

In 1995, she had her first leading role in a feature film opposite Billy Baldwin in Fair Game, which was a critical and commercial failure.

Although Crawford did less modeling while married to Gere, his connection with the American Gigolo star helped revive Hollywood culture.

She made a splash at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991, shortly before she and the actor eloped, when she paired the red carpet with a deep red Versace dress that left little to the imagination.

She was even seen at the ceremony presenting the award for best set design alongside Susan Sarandon.

Crawford’s dress was a sensation and increased the importance of fashion at the Oscars.

Although several stars had previously worn striking haute couture to the ceremony, the Oscars were not yet the fashion showcase they would become in subsequent years.

“If I’m going to the Oscars, I better be an amazing supermodel,” she recalled thinking. ‘When I showed up in that red dress, I thought it was a bit like, “Wow, fashion is back at the Oscars.”

In the interview, Crawford was most focused on how her relatively young age affected her ability to “change in a relationship” while she was with Gere.

“I just think that for women, your twenties are one of those times where you start to come into your own, feel your own power and connect to your inner strength,” she shared.

“And it’s hard to change in a relationship because what one person signed up for and then suddenly you’re not,” she continued, referring to the end of the marriage. “I think at 22 I was more willing to say, ‘Okay, I’ll follow,’ and then you start saying, ‘Well, I don’t want to just follow. Sometimes I want to lead and I want to walk. sometimes next to each other.”

Notable: “If I’m going to the Oscars, I better be a great supermodel,” she recalled thinking at the time. “When I showed up in that red dress, I thought it was a bit like, ‘Wow, fashion is back at the Oscars.'”

Making a change: “I just think that for women, your twenties are one of those times where you start to come into your own and feel your own power and connect to your inner strength,” she shared; seen in the 1990s in Paris

Crawford would enter into a lasting marriage to Rande Gerber in 1998, and they share two model children: their daughter Kaia Gerber, 22, and son Presley Gerber, 24.

Gere is also said to have other marriages.

His second union was with former Law & Order actress Carey Lowell, whom he was married to from 2002 to 2016.

He then married Spanish publicist and activist Alejandra Silva in 2018, who is 34 years his junior.