Richard Gere was married to Carey Lowell from 2002 to 2016. They welcomed their son, Homer James Jigme Gere, in 2000.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on September 16, 2020. It has since been updated.
Every now and then we see a celebrity child and are astonished at how similar they look to their parents. They could be a mirror image of their parents' younger days. Richard Gere, a father of three, welcomed his second child at the age of 70 and his third child in 2020. However, the 73-year-old has another child, 23-year-old Homer James Jigme Gere.
The 22-year-old, who leads a private life, was born to Gere and Carey Lowell, 62, his second wife. The pair was together for 18 years, of which they were married for 14 years, before parting ways. The 73-year-old wanted a private life focussing on his humanitarian work for ecological causes and AIDS awareness, according to Mirror UK. However, Lowell reportedly wanted to continue their high-flying lifestyle.
"They have a place in upstate New York which Richard loves as it is so quiet and it brings him a lot of solitude. Carey likes being elsewhere in the limelight. She is very sociable and although very much respects what Richard likes she loves being around people," a source said.
After the divorce, they settled their custody of Homer, who was born in 2000, quickly but fought over other details of the divorce, particularly the finances. It took them four years to finalize the divorce settlement, according to PEOPLE.
Their son Homer has grown up to look just like his good-looking father who captured hearts in films like Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, and more. Gere was previously married to Cindy Crawford and they never had any kids but he was more than ready for the journey of fatherhood with Lowell.
"It was actually quite simple. I never had an issue about children one way or the other. With Carey, she had a child from a previous marriage, and it was just a natural thing, caring for this child, having our own child. It was totally spontaneous and right," he told The Guardian in 2002.
They named their son after their own fathers and added the Tibetan name Jigme due to Gere's commitment to Buddhism and the Free Tibet Movement. Becoming a father to Homer changed him as a person. "The marginal stuff just doesn’t affect you any more when you weigh it against the real things in your life. All the cliches [about parenthood] are true," he added.
With famous parents, Homer was thrust into the limelight early in life but he stays away from it now. His parents had an acrimonious divorce and that too dragged him into the public eye. But, it's been several years since those days and his father's younger children are now the subject of curiosity more than him.
Gere married Alejandra Silva in 2018 after wooing her and they have welcomed two children since then. He is still a devoted father to his young kids and spends time with them in their upstate New York home.
References:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/us-gossip/richard-gere-carey-lowell-divorce-2301432
https://people.com/movies/richard-gere-and-carey-lowell-finalize-divorce-report/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jun/07/artsfeatures.dvdreviews
Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Liason (R) Getty Images Stringer
