14 DAY TRIAL // For a while now silver fox Richard Gere has been linked by the tabloids to Padma Lakshmi and their romance was described as discreet and yet budding. But all those rumors came crashing down this week when the actor was spotted out in New York city with an unidentified woman.
Page Six has spoken with eye witnesses and they claim that the 64-year-old actor who made women swoon with his performance in the romantic movie “Pretty Woman” was holding hands with a brunette that “was definitely not Lakshmi.”
The pair was enjoying a quiet dinner at Tutto Il Giorno in Southampton, a fact which puts all the rumors of the Lakshmi romance at rest. Gere and the “Top Chef” host first sparked off relationship rumors back in April, when it was announced that Richard had split up from longtime wife, Carey Lowell six months earlier.
The source that spilled about the mystery brunette does happen to have an impressive amount of knowledge about Richard Gere's private life in the last couple of months, because it also informs that he and Padma are indeed somewhat of an item, though they haven't seen each other regularly in recent months.
The reason being given is that both Padma and Richard travel a lot around the world and have little time to get together. The source explains the two only managed to synchronize their schedules and see each other last week.
Earlier this month, Gere, a practicing Buddhist, took the time to take a trip to the Himalayas, to partake in the Dalai Lama's 79th birthday celebrations. Meanwhile, Padma was away on business in London.
Neither Gere, nor his wife of 11 years, Carey Lowell, have confirmed officially they have split, but rumors indicate that the couple, who has a 14-year-old son named Homer, have been living separately for some time before the breakup.
For her part, Padma, who was a former model, has also been involved in a marriage before, to author Salman Rushdie. Their marriage began in 200 and lasted for three years. After the divorce, Padma was connected with billionaire Teddy Forstmann until his death in 2011 from brain cancer.
Among Richard Gere's most famous conquests was model Cindy Crawford, with whom he was married for four years until 1995.
The local press is now eagerly trying to identify the mystery brunette and hopes that it can reveal if she is a new conquest of the actor who is enjoying a second bachelor period.