The Buddhist actor was spotted jabbing at a reporter with his umbrella
Richard Gere made it through 30 years
being dreamy. Few other stars from his era emanated the same particular
brand of sophisticated sex appeal. The other sexiest men alive from the
’90s, say, Tom Cruise or Nick Nolte, always seemed a little odd and
crazy, even before we knew they were just downright crazy. Meanwhile,
Richard Gere seemed cool and unflappable in a way reminiscent of stars
from the Golden Age of Hollywood—Cary Grant springs to mind.
It helped that Mr. Gere devoted his
personal life to noble causes. He was outspoken about raising HIV/AIDs
awareness. He also defended animal rights, and talked about how, “As
custodians of the planet it is our responsibility to deal with all
species with kindness, love, and compassion.”
A lot of his quotes, or at least
the quotes that ended up on the Internet next to a picture of his face,
dealt with taking a peaceful path through life. Which made sense;
Richard Gere is a Buddhist who is known for hanging out with the Dalai
Lama and working to save Tibet. Barring
that one pervasive rumor about the gerbil, he seemed to have coasted
into old age with elegance and grace. He just played the new, sexiest
grandpa in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
And now he is getting divorced and attempting to stab reporters with an umbrella. Really. An excerpt from Page Six in October reported that, during his divorce from Carey Lowell, his wife of 12 years:
“The Pretty Woman actor stormed
into a Manhattan courthouse Thursday to attend the first hearing in his
icy divorce battle with wife and former ‘Bond girl’ Carey Lowell—while
jabbing his umbrella at a photographer. Gere—wearing meditation beads on
his left wrist and carrying an orange canvas bag from a 2009 Tibetan
prayer festival called the Kagyu Monlam—nastily wielded the pointy black
umbrella like a sword.”
Somehow this is delightful. It is
like watching Mother Teresa get in a screaming match with a taxi driver,
especially because Mr. Gere’s weapon of choice was a little absurd. An
umbrella doesn’t generally seem capable of doing that much damage unless
John Steed is wielding it. There is comfort somehow in knowing that
even the most peaceful people can go a little batty in the face of
heartbreak.
Still, it was already a stark contrast from Mr. Gere’s very amicable divorce with his first ex-wife Cindy Crawford in 1995.
On Oprah’s Master Class in 2013,
the supermodel claimed that their divorce had been mostly caused by
their age gap (Mr. Gere was 37 while Ms. Crawford was 22). She still
spoke warmly of her ex, though, and claimed:
“Richard’s a super-smart guy, and he’s
interesting, and he’s interested, and I learned a lot about the world,”
she said. “It was a great chapter in my life.”
Carey Lowell does not seem to feel the
same way. The couple married in 2002, and Ms. Lowell said that she first
developed a crush on Mr. Gere when she saw An Officer and A Gentleman. However, the Law & Order star was always supposedly more extraverted than the Pretty Woman heartthrob. The Daily Mirror
noted: “Carey likes being elsewhere in the limelight. She is very
sociable and although very much respects what Richard likes she loves
being around people.”
Far from just writing off their marriage
as a “great chapter in her life,” Ms. Lowell is asking for $100 million
of Mr. Gere’s fortune, which is estimated around $250 million. There was
also a dispute over how custody of their 15-year-old son, Homer, would
be shared, and Ms. Lowell reportedly refused to move out of Mr. Gere’s
$4.5 million inn in Bedford, N.Y., which sources said she was intent on
living in with Homer. Mr. Gere, meanwhile, removed her picture from the
brochure. Throughout this drama, Mr. Gere was said to have been dating Top Chef host and Salman Rushdie’s ex, Padma Lakshmi. Us Weekly reported:
“It started very recently and quietly,” a source tells Us.
“It’s very new. I wouldn’t even go as far as calling them a couple.
They are dating. It’s the first time Padma has dated anyone since Teddy
[Forstmann], and it’s something she’s been approaching very, very
delicately. They’re just getting to know each other. They’re just having
fun.”
After six months, however, their relationship and the fun appeared to be over. FOX News reported that they had split:
“We’re told the couple recently ‘decided
they would be better as friends,’ according to a source, who adds that
both had been busy with work.”
Which is great news if you’re planning
on getting together with the newly single Richard Gere. Especially since
you can find him at the courthouse this month, where his divorce is
hopefully nearing the final stages (the couple has reached a custody
agreement, but there is still a question of whether Ms. Lowell will be
getting $100 million). Page Six has reported:
“The Pretty Woman star flirted with a reporter in the elevator, joking, ‘You want me to give you a special, intimate interview?’ ”
It’s a pretty direct approach for a guy
whose characters are known for flying women to operas in different
cities and whisking them off to polo games.
There’s a possibility that Mr. Gere’s
refined style might change with his single status. When fellow ’90s star
Bill Murray got a divorce he was seen roaming 20-something parties in
Brooklyn, and making what one 20-something referred to as “bad life
choices.”
In that case, Rachel Moheban, a Manhattan
psychotherapist, told the Observer, “After divorce, some men just want a
whole new life. It sounds like a midlife crisis, but I don’t think it’s
worrisome. After being married for a long time, sometimes men just like
to have some fun and feel free.”
Though that seems less likely for someone who’s more inclined to practice mindful meditation. Especially since one source told The New York Post that
one of the major reasons for the split between him and Ms. Lowell was
that “The Buddhist actor craves privacy, and Lowell likes socializing
with other bigwigs.”
At the very least, Mr. Gere seems to be channeling his emotions into his work. In his upcoming film Time Out of Mind he’ll be playing a homeless man. He noted in The Wall Street Journal that his role reminds him of his work with the Tibetan refugees in that they are both “trying to find their place, trying to get back home.” Meanwhile, Richard Gere may be living out this storyline perhaps a little, in real life, too.
0 comments:
Post a Comment