There are love stories that end, but whose last names never stop crossing paths. Thirty years after Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere starred in one of the most iconic and talked-about romances of 1990s Hollywood, it is their children who cross paths again. Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere share the screen in The Shards (available on Disney+), the new series by Ryan Murphy based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, a chilling thriller set in 1980s Los Angeles where a group of students from an exclusive private school face the threat of a serial killer targeting the city’s teenagers. An unexpected reunion that has inevitably turned the spotlight back on a couple who made every public appearance an event.
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Both Homer Gere and Kaia Gerber have been asked about the relationship their parents had during the promotion of the series. Both have confirmed that they had never met in person and only met a few days before filming began, although they have only had words of admiration for each other. For Kaia, Homer is “a charming person” and it has been “a joy” to work with him. “He was born on the East Coast and I on the West Coast, but we connected a lot and I couldn’t have chosen a better scene partner,” she told E!. Homer recalled with laughter how that first meeting went: “I don’t know if it was me or her who said it first, but we immediately thought: ‘Should we talk about this?’. And yes, from the inside everything looked very normal.” This is the first major leading role for Richard Gere’s eldest son, 26, who has only been taking his first steps as an actor for two years. Before trying his luck in Hollywood, he graduated in Psychology and Visual Arts from the prestigious Brown University. In Kaia Gerber’s case, already one of the highest-paid models of the last decade, she has been balancing the runways with a growing acting career in film and television, although she is still looking for the role that will firmly establish her as a major figure in new Hollywood.
Long before they shared the screen, it was their parents who captured all the attention. Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford formed one of the most powerful couples of 1990s Hollywood. He was already a star who had just reaffirmed his status as a global heartthrob thanks to the success of Pretty Woman, while the model was enjoying an unstoppable rise on the runways alongside other supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington.
According to People magazine, their first contact took place in 1988 during a barbecue organized by influential photographer Herb Ritts. The publication states that Crawford was completely fascinated by the charisma of the star of Officer and a Gentleman. He was 39; she was barely 22. However, it was not until three years later that they made their big debut as a couple at the 1991 Oscars gala, an event still remembered for the spectacular red Versace dress with a sweetheart neckline and crossed straps worn by the model, which remains one of the most iconic looks in red carpet history. Just a few months later, they said “I do” in a ceremony held in Las Vegas. Everything happened so spontaneously that, according to Crawford herself later, Gere proposed to her that same day after finishing a day of filming and gathered a group of friends on a private jet to the city of gambling. “It wasn’t the wedding I had dreamed of,” the model would admit years later, having walked down the aisle in a navy blue Armani suit and a ring made on the spot from a piece of aluminum foil.
Their marriage was always under the spotlight of the tabloid press, and rumors that their union was nothing more than a publicity stunt to boost their respective careers never ceased. Even Crawford herself had to publicly deny speculations that Gere was homosexual. “Why? Because he has many gay friends? It’s surprising, considering the number of women he’s been linked to. Also, we will never say he isn’t, because he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with being gay,” she responded in an interview with Rolling Stone.
They were married for four years, until 1995, and the age difference between them, 17 years, ended up weighing on the relationship. Crawford tried to adapt to many of her husband’s interests, from baseball to Tibetan Buddhism, but over time she realized they were going through very different life stages. “I think part of the problem in our relationship was that we were many other things, but I don’t know if we were ever friends, because I was very young and he was Richard Gere. And then, as I grew and established myself as a person, it’s hard to change the nature of a relationship when you’re already in it,” she reflected years later in a podcast.
The model has also acknowledged that the actor taught her how to manage fame, although distance ended up being another major enemy of the marriage. “We never spent enough time together. We are both responsible for that. We thought it would be enough to fly from Paris to Los Angeles to see each other for one night. And it wasn’t,” she confessed to People.
Three years after the breakup, Cindy Crawford got the wedding she had always dreamed of. She married businessman Rande Gerber in the Bahamas, father of her two children, Kaia and Presley (also a model), with whom she continues to form one of the strongest couples in show business. For his part, Richard Gere found love again in 2002 with actress Carey Lowell. From their marriage, which lasted 12 years and ended in 2014, came Homer, who began his acting career with a role in Euphoria and now makes the definitive leap starring in The Shards. The young man will also appear in Oliver Stone’s new film, White Lies, alongside Michael Douglas. Richard Gere remarried in 2018 to Spanish businesswoman and publicist Alejandra Silva, with whom he has two children, Alexander and James. Now, 30 years after their separation, the famous actor witnesses how his story with Cindy Crawford writes a new chapter… but through the next generation.
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