Richard Gere, 75, Prepares for Holidays With Young Sons in Rare Photos

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Richard Gere and his young sons are preparing for a European holiday season.

His 41-year-old wife Alejandra Silva took to Instagram on Saturday, November 30 to share a photo of their sons Alexander, 5, and James, 4, decorating for Christmas. One of the boys could be seen going through boxes of decorations, while another looked to be hanging an ornament on the Christmas tree.

“As Jamie says, mom, mom, today is the first day of Christmas! How I like their energy, their innocence ♥️, this year finally, Christmas in Spain.! #merrychristmas #feliznavidad,” she captioned the photo in her native language, Spanish.

She and the 75-year-old Longing star, who tied the knot in 2018, recently moved to Spain. Gere discussed the big move on the November 20 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “My wife is Spanish and she gave me about seven years here,” he said, adding, “So we’re going to spend some years in Madrid.”

Since his kids are bilingual, Gere said they will “flourish” in Madrid. They also had an instant support system upon arrival, seeing as Silva’s extended family lives there. She shares 11-year-old son Albert with ex-husband Govind Friedland. Gere also shares 24-year-old son Homer with his ex-wife, Carey Lowell.

The Chicago actor spoke with Fallon about spending Thanksgiving in Spain this year. “My wife has, she grew up in a very big Spanish family,” he said, comparing the dynamic to that of a large Italian family. “And her grandmother was kind of the glue that held that all together,” he explained.

He went on to say that after his wife’s grandmother passed away about two years ago, Silva began looking to fill that role. “So my wife, I can see her morphing into the new grandmother of this extended family. So she’s already planning for, you know, 35 people for Sunday lunches,” he shared.

During that same interview, Gere also talked about how Julia Roberts got the role alongside him in 1990 classic Pretty Woman. He said that at the time Roberts wasn’t as well known, having only appeared in one feature film, Mystic Pizza. However, director Garry Marshall had a good feeling about her.

He recalled a meeting Marshall had set up, inviting Roberts, now 57, to Gere’s office in New York. “Gary introduced us and he left,” Gere said. “And he called back 45 minutes later, and he’s going, ‘How’s it going?'” While on the call, Gere said Roberts picked up a Post-it note, and wrote, “Please say yes,” before turning it over for him to read.

“So I said, ‘Gary, I think I just said yes,'” Gere said, as Fallon and the audience burst into applause. “True story,” he added. Gere and Roberts went on to star together in Runaway Bride in 1999, and Fallon joked that a new film called Please Say Yes could be their third rom-com together.

Gere also took a moment to praise Marshall, who passed away in July 2016. “Garry Marshall was one of the nicest, funniest, most generous loving people I’ve ever met,” he gushed. “And he was a great writer. Presidents used to buy jokes from him — but they were always good-hearted. There was nothing dark in him at all.”