EXCLUSIVE: Richard Gere, 76, Targeted Over Age-Gap Romance After New York PDA Shoot

Richard Gere has found himself at the center of fresh backlash over age-gap Hollywood romances after the 76-year-old Hollywood veteran was spotted filming an intimate New York scene with his 28-year-old co-star Diana Silvers, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Gere, who turns 77 later this month, plays revered author Ezra opposite Silvers' young literary assistant Alice in Asymmetry, an adaptation of Lisa Halliday's acclaimed 2018 novel.

The pair were recently seen shooting an ice cream date on a sunlit park bench – highlighting the 48-year age difference between the movie's romantic leads.

A source familiar with the production told Radar, "Richard and Diana's age difference is obviously impossible to miss, but that's fundamental to the story. The relationship between this celebrated older writer and a much younger woman is supposed to make audiences think about the imbalance between them, but it has created a massive backlash online about Hollywood promoting yet another male-centric age-gap romance."

The sighting has an additional real-life twist because Gere has himself experienced relationships with significant age differences.

His third wife, Spanish publicist Alejandra Silva, 43, is 33 years younger than him, while his first wife, Cindy Crawford, 60, previously discussed how their 15-year age difference affected their marriage.

Silvers is also only two years older than Gere's son Homer Gere, 26, who is appearing in Ryan Murphy's The Shards alongside Kaia Gerber, 24 – Crawford's daughter from her marriage to Rande Gerber, 64.

In Asymmetry, Ezra and Alice meet by chance before embarking on an illicit relationship.

The movie's logline says they "create a private world just for two," with Ezra finding somebody with whom he can be vulnerable while Alice develops confidence in her own ambitions as a writer.

The film is written, directed, and produced by Edward Zwick, 73, whose directing credits include About Last Night, Legends of the Fall, and The Last Samurai.

Zwick also won an Academy Award as a producer of Shakespeare in Love.

Gere married Silva in 2018 after the pair had been family friends for years. They have two sons together – Alexander, seven, and James, six.

Silva has previously addressed their age difference directly.

She said: "I'm not ignoring our age difference and what it means to be with a Hollywood star, but when there's such a strong karmic energy, the problems disappear."

Gere's experience with Crawford was different.

The supermodel was 22 when their relationship began, while the Pretty Woman star was already an established Hollywood name in his late 30s.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey, 72, in 2013, Crawford said: "I think a lot of what happened with Richard, and I was that I was still 22 and at 22 – as a young woman – I was kind of still figuring out who I was and what I wanted to be and he was already 37."

She added: "You think you're already formed. And then you realize, 10 years later, that they were totally right."

Gere has enjoyed a Hollywood career spanning more than five decades, becoming one of the industry's defining leading men.

After establishing himself with Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, he became a major star through American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman.

His international fame soared when he starred opposite Julia Roberts in the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, before the pair reunited for Runaway Bride.

Gere's later successes included Primal Fear and Chicago, with the latter earning the star a Golden Globe.

Away from acting, Gere has been prominent in humanitarian causes and is a longtime Buddhist.