Richard Gere Has Been Wearing the Same Beaded Bracelet for Years: Here's What It Means

Richard Gere sticks to the classics when it comes to his fashion.

He’ll often be found in a smart suit with a button-down shirt, especially if he’s on the red carpet or appearing on TV. The polished silver fox uniform remained consistent throughout his 50-year career.

The 75-year-old actor also sticks to the same fashion accessory day after day: modest Tibetan prayer bead bracelets.

Gere, a practicing Buddhist, told the magazine Lion’s roar 1999 that his first encounter with Buddhism was while he was still in school, but his “first encounter with the Buddhist dharma” was in his 20s. Since then, he has spent his life as a practicing Buddhist, which is why his prayer beads—or small bracelet—can almost always be found on his wrist.

Richard Gere.

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Small bracelets are usually used to count mantras or prayers and are used as reminders throughout the day, like any other religious symbol. Beads can be made from a variety of materials, including wood, seeds, gemstones or metal, and each material has its own purpose. Sandalwood is the most traditional material from which a bracelet is made.

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Richard Gere and wife Alejandra Silva.

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Lately, Gere has been seen wearing his bracelet during TV appearances, including on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Nov. 20, where he revealed his Thanksgiving plans for this year. PEOPLE’s 1999 Sexiest Man Alive told the crowd that he and his family, including wife Alejandra Silva, will be in their new home in Spain, where she is from.

“My wife is Spanish and she gave me about seven years here, so we will spend a few years in Madrid with her family,” Gere said. “Our children are bilingual, so they will flourish there.

Gere and Silva first met in 2014 at a hotel in Positano, Italy, before tying the knot in May 2018. They then welcomed two sons: Alexander, 5, and James, 4.

Silva, 41, also has an 11-year-old son Albert with ex-husband Govinda Friedland, while Gere had his only child with second wife Carey Lowell, son Homer, in 2000.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education