Returning, as Carlos Gardel sang, is an act charged with melancholy and nostalgia: the protagonist returns to his place of origin, but it is not a triumphant return, rather one filled with “deep hours of pain” and a life failure. Okay, perhaps the return of Richard Gere and Alejandra Silva to the United States has not been as dramatic as the tango sung by the Argentine, but it has been an unexpected, silent, and a little homeless return.
Because the house that was theirs and in which the actor and the Galician built their love story, is no longer theirs. In fact, it does not exist. And that is where the problem lies, the controversy and phrases like “I hate it, I hope my dead pets torment you,” directed at the star of Pretty Woman. But what happened and why does the daughter of Paul Simon (yes, the one from Simon & Garfunkel) wish that her dogs and cats return (to come back) from beyond to torment Gere? Let’s recap.
A year ago, Richard Gere and Alejandra Silva decided to change air, country, culture, and life. The American felt indebted to the Spaniard (“she was very generous to let me spend six years in my own world, so it’s fair that now I dedicate at least six more living in hers,” the actor declared) and packed their things to leave the United States and settle in Madrid.
In that change was also included getting rid of the house (here we’ll say hacienda because “casa” sounds too rustic) that Gere had in Connecticut: a family hacienda valued at $10.75 million. The property boasted six bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a huge living room, gardens, a pool, a gym, a cellar and a visitor’s house with three bedrooms.
The property, located 72 kilometers from New York, was built in 1938 and purchased by Richard Gere in 2022. Its previous owner, and here begins the trouble, was the musician Paul Simon (who eventually teamed up with his musical partner, Garfunkel, but that is another story) and his wife Edie Brickell, who bought the house in 2002. The couple lived there with their family for twenty years in a mansion that took three years to sell and which cost them three million dollars.
And so far so good. Theirs is yours, here are the keys, enjoy and be as happy as we were; now Villa Simon would become Gere-landia, etc., etc, etc. Richard and Alejandra took over the immense property that was theirs until the idea of settling in Spain materialized and with it the plan to put their property in the United States up for sale in order to buy something in La Moraleja.
Who Is Lulu Simon and Why Does She Hate Richard Gere?
Lulu Simon is one of the three daughters Paul Simon had with Edie Brickell (he has another from his first marriage with Peggy Harper). Lulu, who is now 30 and is a musician like her father, spent a large part of her childhood on the property that later belonged to Gere. According to her, when the financial deal between her father and the lead in An Officer and a Gentleman took place, Gere promised to preserve the property for life.
However, when the time came to put up the “For Sale” sign, a real estate developer came to her door and decided to demolish the mansion to build new homes. And Lulu did not like that at all. Not one bit. “In case anyone was wondering if I still hate Richard Gere, I do!”, she wrote on her Instagram account to make clear that she neither forgets nor forgives. “He bought the house of my childhood, promised to take care of the land as a condition of the purchase. Then, he never moved in and simply sold it to a real estate developer in nine separate parcels,” she explained.
Lulu Simon’s post.
Lulu’s anger didn’t stop there; it even veered into the esoteric: “I hope my dead pets buried in the garden torment you until you fall into a slow and relentless madness.” We don’t know if Lulu had read Stephen King’s Pet Sematary that day or had watched Poltergeist for the third time.
Before the mansion’s demolition, Hudson Valley House Parts, a salvage company, managed to rescue some architectural pieces of the estate including two mid-century steel windows with nautical motifs; a limestone shelf and a marble shelf; colonial window frames or a complete oak library with a vaulted fireplace and wall panels with embedded elements.
Now, with the house demolished and Lulu’s networks focused on her musical career, the Geres have returned to the United States (obviously not to this residence that they neither own nor exist). The reason for the return is purely logistical: the actor is focused on promoting his documentary about the Dalai Lama, and the couple maintains a very active schedule in everything related to their charitable foundation. So their new base will be there, but they will continue to come back here. What we don’t know is whether they will do so with a furrowed brow, a feverish gaze, or silvered temples. Alejandra’s, it goes without saying, because Gere’s temples already are.
