Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere Whirlwind Romance Elopement Divorce

As two of the biggest names in Hollywood – indeed, the universe – in the ’80s and ’90s, Cindy Crawford And Richard Geré truly made the perfect couple. Together, they sizzled on the red carpet until passing away a few years later. But wow, it was fun to watch while it lasted – so let’s do it again!

How it started

In scenes so 1980s you can almost smell the tanning oil from here, Crawford, then 21, and Gere, then 38, were introduced at a barbecue hosted by the legendary photographer. Herbal ritts in 1988. As a newcomer to fame, Crawford was struck by Gere’s leading man status and, naturally, he was also attracted to the model.

The gorgeous couple immediately began dating and soon moved in together in New York, sharing common interests in Buddhism and meditation and traveling together to India and Nepal.

It was a life-changing time for Crawford. “He was older, so I was just in a different circle and I wasn’t doing some of the same fashionable things anymore,” she said on the Apple TV series. The super models in 2023. “It was a time in my career where I moved away from the high fashion elite and kind of took more charge of my career.

One of their most memorable moments as a couple came at the 1991 Oscars, when Crawford stole the show — or at least the red carpet — in her iconic Versace dress.

How long did it last

After three years of dating, the couple eloped to Las Vegas in December 1991. “Richard and I had been dating for several years, and at one point I was like, ‘Are we doing this or what?’ “, Crawford recalled in 2015 while promoting his book. Become. “And he said, ‘Let’s go to Vegas tonight.’ It wasn’t the wedding I dreamed of. I wore this Armani suit at the last minute. It was a nice Armani suit, but I didn’t dream of getting married in a navy blue suit. And the ring was made out of foil because it was last minute. But I had Herb Ritts as my bridesmaid – and I took the photos!

Bizarrely, their relationship was quickly marred by rumors that they were both gay and that their marriage was a publicity stunt. “It’s amazing to me,” Crawford said rolling stone in 1993. “Considering how many women he’s associated with! Like, when does he have time to be gay?”

In 1994, they separated before filing for divorce the following year, citing irreconcilable differences.

How it ended

Before their split, the couple were forced to release a statement as rumors swirled that they were on the rocks. “We got married because we love each other and we decided to live together,” we can read. “We are heterosexual and monogamous and take our commitment to each other very seriously. There is not and never has been a prenuptial agreement of any kind. Reports of a divorce are completely false. There are no plans and never have been plans for a divorce. We remain very much married. We both look forward to starting a family.”

Although their words may have been true at the time, the family never came and they soon ended it, later citing their 17-year age gap as a major factor.

“I was still 22, and at 22 – as a young woman – I was still figuring out who I was and what I wanted to be,” Crawford said in 2013. “I just think that your 20s, for women, is such a time where you start to blossom, to feel your own power and connect to your inner strength, and it’s hard to do that – it’s hard to change – in a relationship, because what a person would go for was able to register, all of a sudden, you’re not that anymore.

She added: “I think at 22 I was more willing to say, ‘OK, I’ll follow,’ but then you start to say, ‘Well, I don’t want to just follow – I want to lead sometimes, and I want to walk side by side sometimes.'”

What they said about each other

During their relationship, Crawford observed that Gere taught her how to be famous – something she reflected on after their split. “When I saw how he behaved with fans when they approached him, most of the time it was not a good time to sign an autograph, shake hands or sign a photo,” she said. “I was able to watch him to see how he created boundaries for himself that felt good. Richard is a super smart guy, and he’s interesting, and he’s interested, and I learned a lot about the world. It was a great chapter in my life.”

Gere also spoke a bit about the split in a 1996 interview with Charlie Roseadmitting that divorce was always “painful”.

He said: “I love the idea of getting married. I had no problem saying that from the beginning. It didn’t work out, but… I think it’s a very positive thing, I look at it very spiritually. I still believe that the only way to approach marriage is in a deeply committed adult way, where both people have to be looking for the same thing and be willing to challenge each other in the process. If the vision is different, if the place you’re going is different, the goal you set for yourself is different there is no chance of it working.

What they say now

Over the years, Crawford has publicly reflected on some of the reasons she and Gere were ultimately unsuccessful, saying To carry magazine in 2015 that they “didn’t spend enough time together.”

In 2016, she also declared on the podcast “WTF With Marc Maron” that the age gap and their difference in status continued to widen. “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,” she explained. “And then, as I started to grow up and become myself, it’s hard to change the nature of a relationship once you’re already in it.”

Key Takeaways About Relationships

Sometimes age gaps work, but sometimes they don’t. Gere later married and had children with two different women: Carey Lowellwith whom he was married from 2002 to 2016 (they share their son Homer), and Alexandria Silvawhom he married in 2018 (they share sons Alexander and James.)

Crawford also didn’t stay single long after the divorce, marrying Rande Gerber in 1998 – with a much more modest age gap of four years – and have two children, son Presley and daughter Kaia, both of whom are models.

They may have long since moved on, but Gere and Crawford’s relationship remains one of the most memorable, iconic and downright sexy of the early 1990s.