At just 22 years old, she entered into a high-profile marriage to one of the world’s biggest movie stars.
And now Cindy Crawford looks back on her tumultuous relationship and marriage to Richard Gere.
The 57-year-old fashion icon recalled how she changed herself and her interests to fit Gere’s when she began dating the “Pretty Woman” star in 1988 while working on her new Apple TV+ series, ” The Supermodels,” which also features interviews with fellow runway stars Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.
In the documentary series, she recalled how she adopted some of Gere’s interests in Buddhism as she tried to better adapt to him.
According to Crawford, she had not developed enough interests of her own during her early marriage, so she absorbed many of Gere’s interests.
Cindy Crawford looks back on her early marriage to Richard Gere and how she changed to fit the acclaimed actor in her new Apple TV+ series The Supermodels; seen in 1989
Whirlwind romance: Crawford, 57, eloped with Gere, 74, in 1991 after they met three years earlier
“At the beginning of a relationship, as a young woman, you think, ‘You like baseball? I like baseball,’” she said.
“Are you really interested in Tibetan Buddhism? Maybe I’ll be interested in it. I’ll try that.”
Crawford referred to Gere’s known interest and devotion to Buddhism in her comments.
In his twenties, he became interested in Zen Buddhism, a more minimalist, meditation-focused version of the folk religion that originated in China and spread throughout Asia before becoming popular in Japan.
But in the late 1970s he visited Nepal and met many practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, which has a much greater focus on ritual. Following this trip, Gere met with the 14th Dalai Lama in India, where he lives after his exile from Tibet.
“You’re willing to adapt to the person you’re in love with,” Crawford continued.
Although the brunette beauty appeared to regret taking such a passive role in her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1995, she also described broadening her horizons thanks to the social circles in which Gere was active.
“He was older, so I was just in a different circle and wasn’t doing the same fashionable things,” she said.
Crawford was 17 years younger than Gere, now 74, and the couple quietly eloped in 1991 after being together since 1988.
Although Crawford scaled back her modeling work during her relationship with Gere, she also expanded her profile with more film and television work during and immediately after her marriage.
In 1989, a year after meeting the Chicago actor, she became the first host of MTV’s “House Of Style” and during this time appeared in George Michael’s legendary film “Freedom!” 90 music video – along with all of her Supermodels co-stars – and she played Jon Bon Jovi’s girlfriend in his video for Please Come Home For Christmas.
Transformer: “At the beginning of a relationship, when you’re a young woman, you think, ‘You like baseball? I like baseball. Are you really into Tibetan Buddhism? I might like that. I’ll try that,” she said, referring to Gere’s well-known religion; seen in 1994
An eye-catcher: During her time with Gere, Crawford did less modeling and more acting, but she made a splash at the 1991 Oscars with her deep red Versace dress
In 1995, she had her first leading role in a feature film opposite Billy Baldwin in “Fair Game”, which was both a critical and commercial failure.
Although Crawford did less modeling during her marriage to Gere, her association with the American gigolo star helped revitalize Hollywood culture.
At the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991, just before she and the actor eloped, she made a splash when she teamed the red carpet with a low-cut scarlet Versace dress that left little to the imagination.
She was even seen at the ceremony presenting the award for Best Set Design alongside Susan Sarandon.
Crawford’s dress was a sensation and elevated the importance of fashion at the Oscars.
Although several stars wore eye-catching haute couture at the ceremony, the Oscars were not yet the fashion showcase they would become in subsequent years.
“If I’m going to the Oscars, I better be a fucking supermodel,” she recalled at the time. “When I showed up in that red dress, I was a little bit like, ‘Wow, fashion is back at the Oscars.'”
In the interview, Crawford focused primarily on how her relatively young age affected her ability to “transform a relationship” during her time with Gere.
“I just think that for women, the 20s is a time when you start to find yourself, feel your power and connect with your inner strength,” she shared.
“And it’s hard to change in a relationship because you might have bought into what one person decided to be and then all of a sudden you’re not that anymore,” she continued, hinting at the end of the marriage.
“I think at 22 I was more willing to say, ‘Okay, I’ll follow,’ and then you start to say, ‘Well, I don’t want to just follow. I want to lead sometimes and I want to walk sometimes side by side.
Striking: “If I’m going to the Oscars, I’d better be a damn supermodel,” she recalled thinking at the time. “When I showed up in that red dress, I was a little bit like, ‘Wow, fashion is back at the Oscars.'”
Making a change: “I just think that the 20s for women is a time when you start to find yourself, feel your power and connect with your inner strength,” she shared. seen in Paris in the 1990s
Crawford entered into a long-term marriage with Rande Gerber in 1998 and they have two exemplary children together: their daughter Kaia Gerber, 22, and their son Presley Gerber, 24.
Gere would also enter into other marriages.
His second marriage was to former Law & Order actress Carey Lowell, to whom he was married from 2002 to 2016.
In 2018 he married the Spanish journalist and activist Alejandra Silva, who is 34 years his junior.