It was more than three decades ago that Hollywood's hottest couple, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford,
decided to take their blossoming romance to the next level.
Yes, The Pretty Woman actor eventually gave in after the ultimatum and decided to marry
his girlfriend.
Crawford and Gere spontaneously wed in Las Vegas, exchanging aluminum foil rings at the
altar.
However, it wasn't as romantic as one would imagine.
Welcome to Rumour Juice!
In today’s episode, we'll look inside Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere’s failed marriage,
from the whirlwind wedding to their ultimate separation.
It all started as a romantic fairy tale.
The couple met at the backyard BBQ of beloved fashion and portrait photographer Herb Ritts).
Awestruck by the celebrity crowd, Crawford was 22 at the time, with her legendary career
only looming on the horizon.
But it was 39-year-old Gere who attracted her attention.
When the chemistry worked, they were in big trouble!
"We talked, then we had a date, then we had another date," Crawford said about their attraction.
It didn't take long for the two to become Hollywood's hottest couple, appearing together
on red carpets, tabloid covers, and cropping up at the hottest restaurants in Los Angeles
and Manhattan.
At first, Gere was uncertain about marrying Crawford.
He thought it was too suburban, and he had huge concerns about making the wrong decision.
But Crawford finally broke Gere's resolution.
She simply gave him the ultimatum.
She reportedly informed the famous actor of her desire to move on if they weren't moving
to the next level.
It definitely wasn't time to get cold feet for Gere!
He confessed, "I was a holdout at age 42, and this woman who I was crazy about and loved
very much said, 'I can't wait.
I gotta move on if it ain't happening.'"
Gere was on a single night break from filming Mr. Jones, when he and Crawford, plus a few
close friends, boarded a private jet to Las Vegas.
Get the party started!
The two chose to exchange vows at an iconic Sin City chapel, The Church of the West.
It's the same place where Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton tied the knot.
But, perhaps the most unusual moment of the small ceremony was when the couple exchanged
their rings.
Rather than opting for an extravagant jewelry brand, the duo fashioned rings out of aluminum
foil and wore them instead of something more extravagant.
"I wore John Galliano off the rack," Crawford explained.
"I couldn't shop for wedding dresses because we wanted to keep the wedding a secret.
So I told a stylist friend we were going to a white party on the beach," she reflected
on the preparation for the ceremony.
Now it was a truly iconic model wedding.
While the lovebirds were simply happy to tie the knot, it seems that the whirlwind and
low-key nature of their ceremony wasn't that perfect.
Crawford didn't wear a white, and Gere walked down the aisle in a navy suit from Armani.
"It wasn’t the wedding I dreamed of.
It was so last minute," she once described the ceremony.
However, there was one detail that the legendary model was quite pleased about – Ritts served
as not only her bridesmaid but also as the official wedding photographer.
As the couple was trying to make their love life work, another milestone was on Cindy's
mind.
In 1993, the model shared that she was very excited to expand a family.
"I feel that's the thing in my life I'm going to be best at, being a mother," she said,
even though Gere was a little resistant to the idea.
Sadly, their “happily ever after” was not meant to last, and just four years after
their whirlwind wedding in Vegas, the couple announced that they parted ways.
There were a lot of factors at play in Crawford and Gere’s 1995 divorce.
Being as famous as they both were at the time, scandalous rumors about their relationship
were never far behind.
Though both parties denied the claims, tabloids were relentless in their assertions that both
Gere and Crawford were gay, and that their marriage was a publicity stunt.
She even joked she found the rumors “amusing”.
Years later, she revealed the major reason their marriage couldn’t stand a chance.
Believe it or not, the couple just didn’t spend enough time together.
Crawford opened up, “We’re equally responsible for that.
We thought it would be okay if we just flew in from Paris to L.A. to get together for
a night to see each other.
It wasn’t”.
There was also that glaring 17-year age gap between them.
"I was still 22 and at 22 — as a young woman — I was kind of still figuring out who I
was and what I wanted to be, and he was already 37," Crawford told Oprah in an interview.
She believed that being in her twenties means constant changes.
It’s exactly the time when you come into your own and feel your own power and connect
to your inner strength.
That’s why it’s so hard to save relationships during that complicated life period.
She confessed, “I think I was more willing at 22 to be, like, 'OK, I'll follow,' but
then you start going, 'Well, I don't want to just follow — I want to lead sometimes,
and I want to walk side-by-side sometimes.'"
Looking back, Crawford thinks she and Gere should’ve worked on establishing a friendship.
“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.
As she started to mature and become a new version of herself over the years, it was
hard to change the nature of their relationship.
They couldn’t find the common language to nurture their affection anymore.
"There wasn't a good power balance there and that was my fault because I gave all my power
away to him," Crawford said.
Reflecting on her marriage, Crawford admitted that she was quite young when their marriage
took place, but she doubted if she ever had a bond with the famous actor.
She noted that Gere was like a stranger, and they barely had anything in common.
"I was young," said Crawford, adding that she was 26 when they married (Gere was 42
at the time).
"I didn't think I was young, though, but I was young.
I was with Richard for like six years, but I was only married for two years."
When asked if Crawford was still on good terms with the Pretty Woman star, she replied that
they’re friendly, but he’s more of a stranger to her now.
It’s more like he’s gone back to being just “Richard Gere” – nothing more than
a distant actor.
Besides, they don’t really see each other that much these days.
Decades after the marriage ended, both stars have pursued different interests and faced
different fates.
But Crawford was lucky enough to have a wedding she was dreaming of for so long.
Crawford and her current husband, Rande Gerber , were both in other relationships when they
met at her agent's wedding.
She was actually happy both she and Gerber were involved with others when they met.
They were able to be themselves without playing any games.
She explained, "Rande also had a girlfriend at the time, so he wasn't looking to meet
anyone either, and that's the best time to meet someone because that's when you're truly
yourselves."
Crawford added that the two didn't kick things off romantically until they were both single.
And yes, she wore a white dress for the seaside nuptials at the wedding ceremony with Gerber.
Whatever ups and downs Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber experienced over the years, the
most important thing is that they encountered and conquered them together.
The couple has been married for more than 20 years, which is an impressive feat to reach,
especially when both parties still appear deeply in love.
In May 2021, Crawford wrote a sweet note on Instagram to mark the pair's anniversary,
saying, "This night 23 years ago was magical ... and you're still the one!"
Gere was married twice since his failed marriage with Crawford, while the actress enjoyed a
fairy tale union with her second husband.
The famous actor is actually now married to a Spanish activist, and the couple welcomed
two children in recent years.
So for the first time in a while, Richard Gere can say that he is with a person he truly
loves.
Crawford once said that the exact thing that was missing from her marriage to Gere – friendship
– kept her and Gerber together for so long.
"I think why Rande and I really work is that we were friends first," she shared.
"I never pretended to like baseball or meditation – or whatever the version is."
With Gerber, Crawford felt like she wasn't trying to impress someone.
The romance between Gere and Crawford happened almost three decades ago but continues to
be remembered as one of Hollywood's most controversial romances.
Their relationship ended almost as fast as it started.
But it seems that the presumable fairy tale romance brought the ultimate happiness to
Crawford.
From working with the biggest names in fashion to posing for countless now-iconic images,
she is an enduring force within the fashion industry.
The world-famous model gave up full-time modeling in 2000, though she still appears in the occasional
editorial or runway show.
Crawford shifted her focus, launching a furniture collection, authoring an autobiography, and
doubling down on her charity work.
We couldn’t be happier that she finally found her path.
But we’ve been wondering what do you think about the marriage between Crawford and Gere?
Let us know, and don’t forget to subscribe!