Home Entertainment REVEALED: Secrets of Richard Gere’s new life in Spain with a wife 34 years his junior – who wasn’t even BORN when he made An Officer and a Gentleman. And why the couple believe they’ve known each other during their past lives…

REVEALED: Secrets of Richard Gere’s new life in Spain with a wife 34 years his junior – who wasn’t even BORN when he made An Officer and a Gentleman. And why the couple believe they’ve known each other during their past lives…

0 comments
Richard Gere, 75, with his 41-year-old Spanish wife Alejandra Silva at an event in Zurich, Switzerland, last October

Some men may view their eighth decade as a time to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, surrounded, perhaps, by the comforts of family. Richard Gere, however, is not some men.

Once Hollywood’s latest romantic hero, at the age of 75, the actor (snow aside, his youthful visage belies his years) has chosen sticks and moved 3,500 miles from the United States to live in the city Spanish from Madrid.

Because? For love, of course.

And who would expect anything less from the man who, as the star of movies like An Officer and a Gentleman and a Pretty Woman, swept his leading ladies off their feet and put the pulses of a legion of running women?

It appears that the actor, whose proficiency in local slang is a work in progress, has made himself at home in the Spanish capital with his 41-year-old Spanish wife Alejandra Silva and their two young children.

Almost as well known for Buddhism and his vocal activism in pursuit of a free Tibet as he is for his Hollywood credits, Gere made the leap across the Atlantic late last year and, as The Mail discovered on Sunday last week, The European city has warmly embraced its new celebrity resident, and is patiently encouraging as he grapples with the language.

The couple sold their Connecticut ranch for £8.6 million and are reported to have bought a sprawling three-storey expansion, complete with swimming pool and wine cellar, in the wealthy neighborhood of La Moralja.

Clearly, the move has been a success with Alejandra, who was born in Galicia but grew up in Madrid, where her businessman father, Ignacio Silva, is the former vice-president of the Real Madrid football club.

Richard Gere, 75, with his 41-year-old Spanish wife Alejandra Silva at an event in Zurich, Switzerland, last October

On November 29, she posted a photo of her sons Alexander, five, and James, four, emptying plastic storage boxes to decorate a huge Christmas tree.

“This year finally in Spain,” he declared in the accompanying subtitle. Notable were the empty shelves in the back, suggesting there was still a lot of unpacking going on.

On Christmas Day, the MOS has learned, the family – Gere is also the stepfather of Alejandra’s eldest son, Albert, 12 – were visitors to the legendary Chocolateria San Gines, Madrid’s first place for the most beloved of snacks. Spaniards, chocolate and churos.

The cafe has been making the ‘dip donuts’ since 1894, but manager Jesús Figuera was still nervous when the group of celebrities walked in. Gere, wearing a baseball cap, apparently went unnoticed by the other clientele.

“It was a very busy day that afternoon in San Gines, but they discreetly got into a car that left them outside,” he told MOS. ‘They looked perfectly at home with all the other customers around them and Richard seemed very happy.

‘He was very humble, very nice and smiling all the time. They were talking to each other and saying how tasty the chocolate was, and Richard asked me questions about where the chocolate was from in a mix of Spanish and English. Where you couldn’t understand him, his wife and the other people they were with would let him talk, but then they would help him by explaining in Spanish.

“But he made the effort to speak Spanish and that, along with the fact that they left their plates and glasses clean, showed me that Richard seems very much at home here.”

The couple is also reported to have enjoyed meals at upscale restaurant Aurea, just a short walk from their front door.

Earlier this month, Gere and Alejandra, known as Ale, were on the coast at the Hot Malaga holiday resort, dining with actor Antonio Banderas and watching a performance of his musical Gypsy.

Generous with praise, Gere joked, “Even though I don’t understand everything in Spanish, I loved the show.”

The couple vacations in Spain in 2022. Gere is also stepfather to Alejandra's eldest son, Albert, 12

The couple vacations in Spain in 2022. Gere is also stepfather to Alejandra’s eldest son, Albert, 12

Gere with Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman

Gere with Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman

Alejandra had been longing for home for some time, it seemed. They had had a six-month debate over where to live after getting married in 2018, a battle she won, at first.

But as Gere told chat-show host Jimmy Fallon: ‘My wife is Spanish and she gave me about seven years here, so we’re going to spend a few years in Madrid.

We are happier than ever. She, because she is at home and I, because if she is happy, I am happy.

He said Alejandra was already planning Sunday lunches for 35 people, following in the footsteps of her late grandmother, who was the “glue that held everything together.”

Food, and their beloved children, seem to be the glue that keeps this couple together. “Richard is a very devoted and present father,” Alejandra told Spanish magazine Elle. ‘He loves reading them stories. He is a great dad.

However, he is not much of a cook. “He doesn’t cook, I do it,” she said. ‘When I cook, he plays the guitar.’

So far, so idyllic. If this is marital happiness, it took time to arrive. After all, it was 1982 when Gere swept a factory worker off his feet to the strains of Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ where we belong (and, of course, to the immortal cries of ‘Way to Go Paula!’ from his colleagues ) in An Officer and a Gentleman, the year before Alejandra was born.

And she was seven years old when he gallantly came to Julia Roberts’ rescue in Pretty Woman.

The actor, whose breakthrough role was in American Gigolo in 1980, was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford for four years (1991-1995), before tying the knot for the second time, with actress Cary Lowell, with whom he has been married for 24 years. 24-year-old son, Homer, named after Gere’s father, who died at age 100 in 2023. They separated in 2013 after 11 years of marriage.

Gere starred alongside Julia Roberts in the 1990 film Pretty Woman

Gere starred alongside Julia Roberts in the 1990 film Pretty Woman

Alejandra, meanwhile, grew up in a wealthy enclave on the outskirts of Madrid with her two sisters. She went to the Elite Mater Salvatoris School and enjoyed a brief stay on British shores, at the private Catholic boarding school Leweston, in Sherborne, Dorset.

Back in Madrid, he studied advertising and marketing at university and worked at an advertising agency before working in marketing at an aviation company.

Once a member of Madrid’s Glitterati, she had a brief relationship with Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos before marrying geologist and businessman Govind Friedland, son of mining magnate Robert Friedland, in 2012.

After their marriage ended three years later, Alejandra was running a hotel in the posh Italian resort of Positano, which once housed film director Franco Zeffirelli, when she met Gere in 2015.

He was already a friend of her family, having met Alejandra ‘Nacho’s father while filming an advert on the island of Formentera in 2000, when he was 17 years old.

Gere, who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of slippery lawyer Billy Flynn in the 2002 screen adaptation of the musical Chicago, once joked that he thought he was George Clooney when they met.

By Alejandra’s account, their relationship blossomed quickly after he bombarded her with flowers until she agreed to go on a date with him. “It wasn’t long until (we) both felt like we were meant to be together,” he said.

In an interview with the Spanish magazine Hola! In 2016, he stated: ‘Richard has been like my hero in real life. We were there for each other. Both Buddhists (she converted after meeting him), the couple believe in reincarnation.

“I was a little lost, without light, and meeting him gave meaning to my life,” he said. ‘It was like feeling like someone was reaching out to me and showing me the true path… We’ve known each other for many lifetimes.

“Everyone can see that there is an age difference, and everyone knows what it means to be a Hollywood star, but there is such a big karmic force, the problems disappear.”

Now there is a story for a movie. A truly international one at that.

The relationship became public after they were spotted on a yacht off the coast of Sicily in June 2015, when they were both going through a divorce.

They married in 2018, first in a civil ceremony in Spain, then a more lavish celebration at Gere’s Ranch outside New York, during which he sang to his bride in Spanish, danced a flamenco, and she wore no fewer than three dresses.

At the time she said she felt like the “luckiest woman in the world”, and declared that she felt like “I’m in a real fairy tale”.

Gere has been equally effusive: “I have found the quiet, happy life that I have always sought,” he told an interviewer.

‘I’m the happiest man in the universe, how could I not be?’ He told another. ‘I am married to a beautiful woman who is intelligent, sensitive, committed to helping people,

Who is fun, patient who knows how to forgive, who is a great cook, and who makes the best salads in the world! Love indeed.

She was six months shy of her 70th birthday when she welcomed the arrival of her first child in February 2019. The imminent arrival was confirmed when Alejandra posted a photo online of the Dalai Lama, of all people, with his hands reaching for her growing baby bump. . .

Their second child quickly followed, in April 2020.

The couple also share a passion for humanitarian work, with both effusive in their support for Spanish homelessness Ngo Hoga SI. Their goal, they say, is to ensure that, in five years, no one sleeps on the street in Spain.

A man who applauds Father Angel, a Catholic priest and philanthropist who provides food and shelter to the homeless through his organization, Messengers of Peace, as well as a nearby restaurant called Robin Hood.

He has a long-standing relationship with the couple, who have visited his church, and this week told MOS: ‘I still keep in touch with Richard and his wife, and we send WhatsApp messages from time to time. Richard is someone who helps with wellbeing issues whenever he can.

“I am happy to be living in Spain now… above all they are helping to raise awareness among the authorities, the government and other people that we can all help make a better world.”

The couple received awards for their work in a different field shortly after arriving in Madrid in November. They jointly received the 2024 Elle Eco Award for their work with the Sierra A Mar project in Mexico, an initiative focused on conservation and sustainable development on a stunning stretch of coastline.

It was this award that sparked the interview that appeared in Elle last week. In it, Alejandra returned to the topic of karma.

“We’re like soulmates,” he said. ‘We have the same values: we see the world in the same way and from the first moment we feel that we have known it for a long time. And this only happens once, if it happens… We bind the karma of our past lives.

As Mr. Gere bids a warm ‘hello’ to his new life in Spain and ‘goodbye’ to Hollywood, there will no doubt be many women cheering: ‘Shit, Alejandra!’

Additional reports: Gerard Cozens

(Tagstotranslate) DailyMail (T) TVShowBiz (T) Spain (T) Richard Gere

You may also like