ELLE CHERCHEZ LA FEMME
CHANGING GERE
He's known for playing every woman's fantasy on-screen. But in real life, Richard Gere
is a little more. . .complicated. He's always late, performs mind games on the first date,
and admits to learning about women by thumbing through Playboy (and not for the
articles) It's been 27 years sincean Armani-suited Richard Gere comped Lauren
Hutton for mind-blowing tumbles in American Gigolo, and 17 since he paid
Julia Roberts for the same in Pretty Woman.
Even grayer now at 57, time seems to have mellowed the former Mr. Cindy Crawford
being friends with the Dalai Lama will make anyone ease up on habitually goading the
paparazzi. And in case you ever wondered what it might be like to shower with the
man who carried Debra Wingerup where she belonged and straight out of that factory,
he does it like a conservationist: The hot water is turned off while he soaps up all over.
(Sorry to interrupt the fantasy, but his current wife, Carey Lowell, and seven-year-old
son, Homer, are playing in the next room.) This month, Gere delivers one of his best
performances—though worst hairstyles—as Howard Hughes autobiography fabricator Clifford Irving in The Hoax.—
ANDREW GOLDMAN
ELLE: Do you recall your first feelings of sexual awakening?
RICHARD GERE: I had a friend in the neighborhood whose father had Playboy magazines, and we would go over
and look at them. I remember cutting out pictures and hiding them in my room.
ELLE: So was your taste for women dictated by those images of Playboy models?
RG: Yeah, actually it was pretty similar. Buxom, over-the-top bodies weren't that interesting to me, but it was
something about their freshness and intelligence.
ELLE: You could glean intelligence from looking at Miss July 1968?
RG: Yes, her naked body. You could find it, but you had to pick and choose.
ELLE: Playboy models were much hairier back then. Did that also dictate a lifelong grooming preference?
RG: I have to admit, a manicured look works for me.
ELLE: In your single days, did you ever have any methods for assessing your compatibility with women?
RG: I'd bought a lot of really challenging, cutting-edge Joel-Peter Witkin photographs very early on. There were
severed heads and amputated feet and hands in them—gruesome stuff. I had them all around the house, and if
someone couldn't relate to it in some artistic way and instead just said "Yuck," then there probably wouldn't have been
anywhere for us to go. With Carey, I used a horse. It was important for me to have a partner who was ballsy, so I took
her out riding in the snow and I didn't pull any punches. She was right there with me, fearlessly taking jumps over logs.
ELLE: What is the one thing you've been most hesitant to have women learn about you?
RG: That I snore. It's really bad. I just had a device made that fits in your mouth and juts your jaw out like you have an
underbite. It locks in that position to keep your throat passage open when you sleep. This is the sacrifice I make for
my wife. It was either this device or me sleeping in the other room.
ELLE: What's your most feminine trait?
RG: The girly way I cross my legs.
ELLE: If we assembled all the women you've ever been with in one room and wouldn't release them until they agreed
on one thing to say about you, what would it be?
RG: "He was always late." I have no sense of time, and I'm a dreamer. I'm basically Ferdinand sniffing flowers.
ELLE: If you showed up there, would it be an ugly scene?
RG: I've stayed good friends with most of my girlfriends. I do remember 20 years ago, I had a secretary redoing my
address book. She was calling all the numbers to make sure they still worked. One day she came in and said, "What
went on with this girl?" Apparently, she had just torn into her with a 20-minute monologue, like, "He's calling me now
after all this time?"
ELLE: While promoting Shall We Dance? in Japan, you actually danced with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who
has been called the Japanese Richard Gere. Was it like gazing into a mirror?
RG: He has my hair, but he's quite a bit shorter than me. I didn't get it myself.
ELLE: Hypothetically, if your life depended on spending every evening ballroom dancing, who would you prefer as a
partner: Koizumi or your Shall We Dance? costar Jennifer Lopez?
RG: That's a tough choice, but I'd have to say Koizumi.
ELLE: Which female costar would you be least surprised to read had uttered something inappropriate while meeting
the Queen?
RG: Sharon Stone. She is one of the most dedicated people I know, but also highly unedited.
ELLE: Who would you think twice about before lending your house to?
RG: Julia [Roberts]. She's got two kids and animals, and I think she's a night nibbler. There'd be crumbs everywhere.
ELLE: Did your parents ever give you any romantic advice that's stuck with you?
RG: No, but I always remember what Bob Dylan said in that Scorsese documentary on him. When he was asked
about Joan Baez's complaints about the way he treated her when they were together, Dylan laughed and said, "It's
impossible to be in love and wise at the same time."
ELLE: It was surprising that Joan Baez was still that angry so many years after being with Dylan.
RG: In my experience, it's always been harder for women to forget.
ELLE: Don't you think it's because it's men who are more frequently making the mistakes?
RG: In my experience, no. I'm not naming names, but no.
ELLE: I'm getting married soon. Any advice?
RG: If you have any question in your mind, don't do it. If you go in thinking it's going to fix something that's wrong,
don't do it. How old are you?
ELLE: 34.
RG: Oh. You're at the perfect age to totally f--k up.
CHANGING GERE
He's known for playing every woman's fantasy on-screen. But in real life, Richard Gere
is a little more. . .complicated. He's always late, performs mind games on the first date,
and admits to learning about women by thumbing through Playboy (and not for the
articles) It's been 27 years sincean Armani-suited Richard Gere comped Lauren
Hutton for mind-blowing tumbles in American Gigolo, and 17 since he paid
Julia Roberts for the same in Pretty Woman.
Even grayer now at 57, time seems to have mellowed the former Mr. Cindy Crawford
being friends with the Dalai Lama will make anyone ease up on habitually goading the
paparazzi. And in case you ever wondered what it might be like to shower with the
man who carried Debra Wingerup where she belonged and straight out of that factory,
he does it like a conservationist: The hot water is turned off while he soaps up all over.
(Sorry to interrupt the fantasy, but his current wife, Carey Lowell, and seven-year-old
son, Homer, are playing in the next room.) This month, Gere delivers one of his best
performances—though worst hairstyles—as Howard Hughes autobiography fabricator Clifford Irving in The Hoax.—
ANDREW GOLDMAN
ELLE: Do you recall your first feelings of sexual awakening?
RICHARD GERE: I had a friend in the neighborhood whose father had Playboy magazines, and we would go over
and look at them. I remember cutting out pictures and hiding them in my room.
ELLE: So was your taste for women dictated by those images of Playboy models?
RG: Yeah, actually it was pretty similar. Buxom, over-the-top bodies weren't that interesting to me, but it was
something about their freshness and intelligence.
ELLE: You could glean intelligence from looking at Miss July 1968?
RG: Yes, her naked body. You could find it, but you had to pick and choose.
ELLE: Playboy models were much hairier back then. Did that also dictate a lifelong grooming preference?
RG: I have to admit, a manicured look works for me.
ELLE: In your single days, did you ever have any methods for assessing your compatibility with women?
RG: I'd bought a lot of really challenging, cutting-edge Joel-Peter Witkin photographs very early on. There were
severed heads and amputated feet and hands in them—gruesome stuff. I had them all around the house, and if
someone couldn't relate to it in some artistic way and instead just said "Yuck," then there probably wouldn't have been
anywhere for us to go. With Carey, I used a horse. It was important for me to have a partner who was ballsy, so I took
her out riding in the snow and I didn't pull any punches. She was right there with me, fearlessly taking jumps over logs.
ELLE: What is the one thing you've been most hesitant to have women learn about you?
RG: That I snore. It's really bad. I just had a device made that fits in your mouth and juts your jaw out like you have an
underbite. It locks in that position to keep your throat passage open when you sleep. This is the sacrifice I make for
my wife. It was either this device or me sleeping in the other room.
ELLE: What's your most feminine trait?
RG: The girly way I cross my legs.
ELLE: If we assembled all the women you've ever been with in one room and wouldn't release them until they agreed
on one thing to say about you, what would it be?
RG: "He was always late." I have no sense of time, and I'm a dreamer. I'm basically Ferdinand sniffing flowers.
ELLE: If you showed up there, would it be an ugly scene?
RG: I've stayed good friends with most of my girlfriends. I do remember 20 years ago, I had a secretary redoing my
address book. She was calling all the numbers to make sure they still worked. One day she came in and said, "What
went on with this girl?" Apparently, she had just torn into her with a 20-minute monologue, like, "He's calling me now
after all this time?"
ELLE: While promoting Shall We Dance? in Japan, you actually danced with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who
has been called the Japanese Richard Gere. Was it like gazing into a mirror?
RG: He has my hair, but he's quite a bit shorter than me. I didn't get it myself.
ELLE: Hypothetically, if your life depended on spending every evening ballroom dancing, who would you prefer as a
partner: Koizumi or your Shall We Dance? costar Jennifer Lopez?
RG: That's a tough choice, but I'd have to say Koizumi.
ELLE: Which female costar would you be least surprised to read had uttered something inappropriate while meeting
the Queen?
RG: Sharon Stone. She is one of the most dedicated people I know, but also highly unedited.
ELLE: Who would you think twice about before lending your house to?
RG: Julia [Roberts]. She's got two kids and animals, and I think she's a night nibbler. There'd be crumbs everywhere.
ELLE: Did your parents ever give you any romantic advice that's stuck with you?
RG: No, but I always remember what Bob Dylan said in that Scorsese documentary on him. When he was asked
about Joan Baez's complaints about the way he treated her when they were together, Dylan laughed and said, "It's
impossible to be in love and wise at the same time."
ELLE: It was surprising that Joan Baez was still that angry so many years after being with Dylan.
RG: In my experience, it's always been harder for women to forget.
ELLE: Don't you think it's because it's men who are more frequently making the mistakes?
RG: In my experience, no. I'm not naming names, but no.
ELLE: I'm getting married soon. Any advice?
RG: If you have any question in your mind, don't do it. If you go in thinking it's going to fix something that's wrong,
don't do it. How old are you?
ELLE: 34.
RG: Oh. You're at the perfect age to totally f--k up.
| FEATURE |
