When Taylor Swift sang “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings,” was she referring to famous celebrity couple Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford? It’s unlikely. But the actor and the model did have a sweet romance. And before their divorce, they tied the knot in a low-key way.
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere were once deemed ‘sexiest couple’
Back in 1993, People published the headline “Richard Gere & Cindy Crawford: The Sexiest Couple Alive!” The article explains that the pair met in 1988 at a backyard BBQ hosted by a mutual photographer friend.
At this point, both of them were superstars riding the peak of their fame. Gere was a solid leading man. He was fresh off his starring role in Pretty Woman, which solidly established his heartthrob status. Crawford, meanwhile, had graced the cover of hundreds of magazines as one of the world’s most recognizable models. The pair’s joint appearance on the red carpet was sure to be a highly publicized (and photogenic) occurrence.
Though there was a significant age gap (Gere was 39 to Crawford’s 22 at the time they were introduced), they got serious quickly. And they headed to the altar four years later. The 1991 ceremony in Las Vegas included the exchange of foil rings, a move InStyle calls “very confusing” for such monied celebrities.
Divorce followed Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere’s 1991 wedding
The duo enjoyed their status as “sexiest couple” for a few years. The 1993 People article gushed over their seemingly perfect relationship. The write-up included a quote from one of Gere’s friends explaining that “their favorite thing is to cook, to stay in, to be together. They will travel thousands of miles to have a night together.”
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Things took a turn, and just a few years later, the pair divorced. The media that had been so obsessed with their perfect relationship became relentless in their pursuit of an explanation, often turning to salacious rumors to fill in the gaps. As InStyle reports, speculation at the time included that they were both gay and had used the marriage to cover their sexuality (a claim they both denied).
Since then, Crawford has opened up about the divorce. She explained that the couple didn’t get to spend enough time together and that the age gap became an issue. “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 shared with Oprah back in 2013.
Other relationships followed for both celebrities
It took Gere a long time to walk down the aisle after his divorce from Crawford. But he did eventually re-marry — twice. His second wife was Carey Lowell, and they dated for seven years before tying the knot in 2002. Eventually, they had a long and drawn-out divorce that wrapped up in 2016. It ended with a custody agreement for their then-16-year-old son, according to People. More recently, Gere married Alejandra Silva, a nonprofit activist 33 years the actor’s junior. They wed in 2018 and have welcomed two sons.
It didn’t take Crawford quite so long to get remarried. In fact, as The List reports, Crawford was still married to Gere when she met Rande Gerber, who she would go on to wed in 1998. Crawford even points to meeting Gerber while they were both involved with other people as one of the reasons they’ve had such a long and successful marriage built on friendship.
“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,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. The couple has two children together, including model and actor Kaia Gerber, and is still going strong.
