As two of the biggest names in Hollywood — actually, the universe — in the 1980s and ’90s, Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere were truly the picture-perfect couple. Together, they sizzled on the red carpet until they fizzled out a few years later. But wow, it was fun to watch while it lasted — so let’s do it again!
How It Began
In scenes so 1980s that we can almost smell the tanning oil from here, Crawford, then 21, and Gere, then 38, were introduced at a barbecue hosted by legendary photographer Herb Ritts in 1988. As a relative newbie to fame, Crawford was starstruck by Gere’s leading man status and he, naturally, was drawn to the supermodel too.
The gorgeous pair began dating straight away and soon moved in together in New York, enjoying shared interests in Buddhism and meditation and taking trips to India and Nepal together.
It was a life-changing era for Crawford. “He was older, so I just was, like, in a different circle and not doing some of those same fashion-y things anymore,” she said on the Apple TV series The Super Models in 2023. “That was a time in my career where I veered away from the high-fashion elite and kind of took more charge of my career.”
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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 gown.
How Long It Lasted
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 on the promo trail for her book Becoming. “And he said, ‘Let’s go to Vegas tonight.’ It wasn’t the wedding I dreamed of. It was so last minute I wore this Armani suit. 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 tinfoil because it was so last minute. But I did have Herb Ritts as my bridesmaid — and taking the pictures!”
Bizarrely, their relationship was soon dogged by rumors that they were both gay and that their marriage was a publicity stunt. “It’s amazing to me,” Crawford told Rolling Stone in 1993. “Considering the number of women he’s associated with! Like, when does he have time to be gay?”
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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 issue a statement as rumors swirled that they were on the rocks. “We got married because we love each other and we decided to make a life together,” it 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 totally false. There are no plans, nor have there ever been any plans for divorce. We remain very married. We both look forward to having a family.”
While their words may have been true at the time, the family never came, and soon they were over, later citing their 17-year age gap as a major factor.
“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,” Crawford said in 2013. “I just think your 20s for women is such a time when you’re starting to come into your own and 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 one person might have signed up for, all of a sudden, you’re not that anymore.”
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She added, “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.’”
What They Said About Each Other
During the relationship, Crawford observed that Gere taught her how to be famous — something she reflected on after their split. “When I would see how he was with fans when they approached him, a lot of the times it wouldn’t be a good moment to sign an autograph, shake a hand or sign a picture,” she said. “I got to look to him to see how he created boundaries for himself that felt good. Richard’s 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 little about the split in a 1996 interview with Charlie Rose, admitting that the divorce still felt “painful.”
He said, “I like the idea of being married. I’ve had no problem saying that from the beginning. It didn’t work out, but … I do think it’s a very positive thing, I see it very spiritually. I do still believe the only way of approaching a marriage is in a deeply committed adult way where both people have to be after the same thing and willing to challenge each other in the process. If the vision is different, if where you’re going is different, the goal you’ve set for yourself is different, there’s no way it’s going to work.”
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What They Say Now
Over the years, Crawford has publicly reflected on some of the reasons she and Gere ultimately didn’t make it, telling Porter magazine in 2015 that they “didn’t spend enough time together.”
In 2016, she also said on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast that the age gap and their difference in status kept coming up. “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 kind of growing up and growing into myself — it’s hard to change the nature of a relationship once you’re already in it.”
Key Relationship Takeaways
Sometimes, age gaps work out, but sometimes they don’t. Gere went on to wed and have children with two different women: Carey Lowell, to whom he was married from 2002 to 2016 (they share son Homer), and Alejandra Silva, whom he married in 2018 (they share sons Alexander and James.)
Crawford didn’t stay single for long after the divorce either, marrying Rande Gerber in 1998 — with a much more modest age gap of four years — and having two children, son Presley and daughter Kaia, who are both models.
They may have long since moved on, but the relationship between Gere and Crawford remains one of the most memorable, iconic and downright sexy of the early 1990s.
