It started with a note. During their first meeting, when Richard Gere was deciding whether to sign on for Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts slipped a Post-it and passed it to the actor. He was charmed, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
“She just glowed,” Gere recalled of the encounter. “She hadn’t become Julia Roberts. She was just this person.”
Julia and Richard’s Unbreakable Bond
Thirty-five years after ‘Pretty Woman,’ Richard Gere and Julia Roberts remain extremely close, according to an insider.
Thirty-five years after their 1990 blockbuster’s debut, he remains mesmerized by Roberts – and the feeling is mutual.
“They’re still extremely close,” an insider said. “They have been there for each other through so many ups and downs over the last few decades. Julia and Richard share an unbreakable bond.”
Roberts, 58, has appeared alongside many A-list leading men, from Hugh Grant and Brad Pitt to George Clooney and Tom Hanks. Yet Gere, 76, holds a particularly special place in her heart – and not just because playing prostitute Vivian Ward opposite his businessman Edward Lewis skyrocketed her to stardom.
“Julia simply enjoys his company,” said the insider. “She speaks to him more than any other former costar.”
At the height of their attachment, likely pre-marriages and kids, Gere estimated the two spoke “three or four times a day,” but he said they continue to talk “all the time.”
“I would call her right now,” he joked on a 2017 red carpet.
So perhaps it’s no surprise the pair was eager to reunite on screen in 1999’s Runaway Bride. Rumor has it, Gere only agreed to do the flick if Roberts joined the cast.
Julia Still Seeks Richard’s Advice
Roberts and Gere reunited on screen in ‘Runaway Bride’ nearly a decade after their first hit together.
“Julia respects him enormously and always likes to get his take on a script before she commits to a project,” noted the insider.
“She thinks Richard is brilliant and would love to work with him again. They just haven’t found the right opportunity. That doesn’t mean they’ve given up. It’s something they both would love to make happen.”
The famous friends don’t only connect over their Hollywood careers.
“Julia values his take on life enormously,” shared the insider. “Richard has shared all kinds of things with Julia, like his deep passion for meditation, how he manages to avoid sweating the small stuff and the experiences he’s enjoyed in far-flung corners of the Earth. He loves to travel, so he’ll often suggest places for Julia to visit as well as books to read and TV shows to watch.”
Roberts and Gere’s chemistry has been undeniable – and not solely platonic – from the very beginning.
The silver fox describes their early offscreen interactions as “flirty.” Said Gere, “We loved each other immediately.”
Their Onscreen Romance Never Faded
Hugh Grant, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney are among the leading men Roberts has worked with outside of her films with Gere.
As for his favorite moments from Pretty Woman?
“Basically any scene where Julia was walking, which was fun for all of us,” Gere coyly remarked.
Nine years after their first hit together, the tight-knit stars paired up again in Runaway Bride.
In 2019, the duo’s easy familiarity – even greeting one another with kisses on the lips – prompted a report that Julia and Richard “likely regret” the stars never aligned for them on a romantic level after their characters fell in love in not one, but two movies.
While she hasn’t addressed the claim directly, the leading lady does confess to having regrets in life. “Who doesn’t?” she said.
Though the RadarOnline.cominsider insisted Roberts and Gere are “like sister and brother,” they nonetheless act a little too cozy for her husband and dad of her kids, cinematographer Danny Moder.
“He may be a little threatened by how close they are,” the insider explained. “He’s only human!”
Spouses Bristle Over Lifelong Bond
Gere said he and Roberts spoke three or four times a day at the height of their friendship.
Moder, 56, is not alone in his alleged feelings.
Similarly, Gere’s wife, Alejandra Silva, 42, “apparently doesn’t always like” how chummy her husband and Roberts are, said the insider. “But at the end of the day, Danny and Alejandra have to accept this is a lifelong friendship that isn’t going away. They’ve had no choice but to accept it.”
Philanthropist Silva may have secretly hoped she was putting distance between the tight-knit celebrities once she and Gere moved to Europe. Last year, the couple who wed in 2018 – relocated to her native Spain with kids Alexander, 7, and James, 5. He’s also dad to Homer, 25, from a previous marriage.
“You’d think Julia and Richard would be seeing less of each other, but she’s been over there a ton lately, so they’ve actually seen each other more,” revealed the insider. “They’re very stealthy about it.”
Host Gere can’t rave enough about his new home in Madrid.
“It’s a very happy place. Like the Italians,” he said. “I mean, being in Italy, being in Spain, you’re dealing with Latin cultures that understand life in a different way.”
Inspired by Richard’s European Life
Sources said Danny Moder was said to feel uneasy about how close Roberts and Gere remain.
His Oscar-winning pal seemingly hinted at her own time spent abroad when she surprised onlookers by speaking Italian at the Gotham Awards in NYC on December 1.
Early in 2025, whispers had circulated Roberts was also considering a full-time move to Europe now that her children with Danny, twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 21, and son Henry, 18, are flying the nest.
“Seeing how content Richard is inspired Julia,” noted the source of her overseas era. “She admires the life he’s created.”
Expect Roberts to continue being a part of his world, no matter where jobs or spouses may take them.
The former coworkers have been constants for each other ever since she said Gere changed her life “forever” by agreeing to appear in their first rom-com.
“Julia and I will always be connected,” he declared. “Making Pretty Woman was an experience we’ll never forget.”
