The Spanish adventure of Alejandra and Richard Gere has lasted a year. They arrived in Spain in the spirit of Bienvenido, Mister Marshall and have left in a “Hasta la vista, baby” mood (that iconic line from Terminator 2 which in Spain was translated as “Sayonara, baby”). In fact, if it weren’t for an interview that the actor gave to Hello! magazine, we might almost have forgotten that the couple and their children had left our country.
The star of Pretty Woman was promoting his documentary Wisdom of Happiness about the Dalai Lama in New York when, answering questions about how his life has changed since he has lived in Spain, he let slip that “we were in Spain for a year,” ending with a “in fact, we have already returned.” There you have it: a full-fledged veni, vidi, vici, because the couple arrived, saw, and conquered, like Julius Caesar at the Battle of Zela (Turkey) in 47 BCE (you already have this week’s trivial data).
What Gere has not clarified is the reason for their return to the United States, considering that the couple had settled in our country, had adapted perfectly to the surroundings (gastronomy, social gatherings, red carpets…) and, on paper, planned to stay with us for about six years. At least that was Gere’s sentiment last February when, joking, he explained that his wife had convinced him to settle in Spain first for six months, then two years, then ten… So nothing seemed to presage this unexpected departure of the couple and their three children to North American lands.
The only thing Gere has made clear in his latest interview is that his time in Spanish soil has been a pleasant experience: “Alejandra was very happy with her family, her friends, her culture, her city and her food, everything, all the good cultural things, so it was fabulous.” In other words, good, but not enough to settle permanently, even though everything suggested that could be the case given that the couple had acquired not one, but two homes: the one in La Moraleja, the exclusive Madrid suburb where they resided, and the one they bought last September in Galicia, Alejandra Silva’s homeland.
The Geres, in the garden of their Madrid home.
The Geres, Privacy and Anonymity
A few months ago Alejandra Gere spoke in an interview with El País Semanal about one of the main reasons for coming to Spain (beyond the nostalgia of returning to her origins or the Spanish lifestyle that has so appealed to the actor) being the chance to pass unnoticed. “And I think we achieved it, unless we have to attend some promotion or some public event of the NGOs with which we collaborate.”
But being Richard Gere and blending in with people in a world full of smartphones is very difficult. So, from time to time, we saw the actor alone or with Alejandra on visits to restaurants or small towns across our geography: in Granada, after the Goya Awards he even stepped into the kitchens of La Ruta del Veleta, and in Galicia, the couple stirred Arteixo when they visited Inditex’s headquarters, the textile giant of Amancio and Marta Ortega.
The Geres’ Spanish Life
From the 2024 line “she was very generous in letting me live six years in my world, so it’s fair that now I dedicate at least six more living in hers” to the late-2025 line “it was fabulous,” Richard and Alejandra Gere have spent a little over twelve intense months in our country, and they themselves have reflected their happiness on their Instagram accounts where the parties they held in the garden of their house, family walks along the beach, and the actor’s and his wife’s joy at receiving the Goya Internacional award last year are all captured.
Alejandra and Richard Gere, at the previous edition of the Goya Awards.
Their involvement with our country has not been solely hedonistic: the Geres wanted to make Spain a better country. Their goal was to end the situation of those who do not have a home to live in. This is how the actor explained it in an interview with journalist Ana Pastor, confessing that he wanted to devote himself to this endeavor to offer a possible solution.
“My wife and I have set out to end this situation in six years. It concerns 30,000 people. It’s something that can be tackled,” he explained to the presenter of El Objetivo. In fact, Richard and Alejandra have participated in the documentary What No One Wants to See, a project where the couple talks with homeless people, giving a voice to those whom the system has ignored. “By giving voice and visibility to homeless people, this film challenges prejudices, awakens empathy, and invites us to rethink the habitual—and often indifferent—way in which our society treats homelessness,” explains The Gere Foundation’s website.
Now, with the Geres’ departure, it is not clear whether these projects will be put on hold, whether their Madrid and Galician mansions will shut down, or whether, on the contrary, the American Gigolo and his wife will soon return to our country.
