Richard Gere said he was ‘happier than ever’ after ditching the US for Spain late last year.
While the actor’s wife at the time, Alejandra Silva, said their relocation was not directly related to Donald Trump’s election victory, she pointedly said she felt ‘privileged’ to be able to ‘escape and go somewhere.’
Since arriving in Spain, the star of classic ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘American Gigolo’, has remained highly critical of Trump.
‘We’re in a very dark place in America, where we have a bully, a thug, who’s the president of the United States. But it’s not just in the U.S., it’s everywhere,’ he said while accepting an International Goya Award award.
‘Authoritarianism takes us all over.’
The couple even sold their expansive Connecticut ranch before relocating to Silva’s native Spain, setting up home in Madrid with their sons Alexander, six, and James, four.
However, it appears their time in Spain hasn’t been everything they hoped for, with his wife Alejandra Silva, 42, revealing she misses America.
When Daily Mail asked whether they planned to stay forever, Silva said: ‘For a few years and then come back [to the US]. But we’re always coming back.
‘We’ll come back here in the summer because we have the kids at camp. We just have to balance our lives there and here.’
The couple sold their expansive Connecticut ranch and relocated to Silva’s native Spain, setting up home in Madrid with their sons Alexander, six, and James, four, late last year
‘I’m with my family… You know, I missed them a lot. But I miss the US. So we come back and forth.’
Silva, a publicist and activist, was speaking at the City Harvest Gala in New York on Tuesday night where she was joined by Gere and his son Homer.
The 25-year-old, whose mom is Gere’s second wife Carey Lowell, said he is keen for them to return to the US.
‘I’ve been told they’re going to move back within the next few years, so hopefully that’s the case because I miss them here,’ he said.
He denied that they ‘escaped because of politics’ and remained coy when asked if they are much happier there.
‘It’s the same people,’ he said. ‘Just a different place. It doesn’t change the world. Spain’s beautiful.’
Gere and Silva first met on Italy’s idyllic Amalfi Coast in 2014 when both were navigating a divorce: Gere from Lowell, and Silva from her husband, Canadian businessman Govind Friedland with whom she has a son.
They were married in 2018 at a private ceremony at Gere’s estate in upstate New York and lived stateside until late last year.
‘We’re happier than ever,’ he told Elle in January just weeks after the move. ‘She’s happy because she’s at home, and I’m happy because if she’s happy, I’m happy.’
Speaking previously about the decision to relocate, he told Vanity Fair that it was only fair for his wife.
The couple, who were married in 2018, recently celebrated their first Father’s Day in Spain
‘She was very generous in giving me six years living in my world, so I think it is only fair that I give her at least another six living in hers,’ he told the magazine.
The Runaway Bride star is among a host of Hollywood stars who have turned their backs on the US for the sunny European hotspot.
Amber Heard quietly quit Hollywood for Madrid in 2022 as she wanted to raise her daughter ‘away from all the noise.’
The actress sold her home in Yucca Valley, California, for $1.1million.
Eva Longoria and her husband José Bastón, 56, are plotting to quit Los Angeles for Marbella after splitting more time between the two.
‘I live more in Spain than I do [the US]… I would love to be there permanently,’ she told DailyMail.com back in June.
‘I’m a Spanish resident, so I can work and stay there.’
Longoria – who married Bastón in 2016 – purchased a six-bedroom, seven-bathroom mega mansion in Marbella in early 2023, with the couple hiring architect and interior designer Nicolás Escanez to help renovate.
Runaway Bride star Gere is among a host of Hollywood stars who have turned their backs on the US for the sunny European hotspot and beyond in recent months
It came as they listed their Beverly Hills property for $18.9million.
‘Most Americans aren’t so lucky,’ she told Marie Claire back in November. ‘They are going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and my sadness is for them.’
Other celebrities involved in the mass exodus from the US include Rosie O’Donnell, who fled to Ireland with her daughter, America Ferrera, who was reportedly looking at schools in London for her children, and Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, who swapped their Montecito mansion for a $19 million historic farmhouse in the British countryside.
