Richard Gere opened up about the political situation in his home country of the United States on Thursday during an event jointly hosted by the Hertie School Centre for Fundamental Rights and his namesake charity, The Gere Foundation.
The 76-year-old shared in a speech at the Berlin event that he was "deeply ashamed" of what the US had become under the leadership of Donald Trump, who was elected president back in November 2024.
"Did it ever cross your mind that America could sink to this level? Did you ever imagine that someone as crazy as this would become President of the United States and work to destroy it?" he asked the audience.
© AFP via Getty Images"Human history is, in many ways, the history of migration, of movement. It's a story of people adapting, building, contributing, and dreaming. And yet, somehow, in today's debates, we often speak about migrants, about refugees as if they were different from us."
He continued: "I think the term I was actually given today, apparently, the US government is calling aliens. Aliens. That's the latest. It had been vermin, now it's aliens. I'm deeply ashamed of this, I want you to know."
"They belong to another category of human beings, as if their hopes and fears and aspirations were somehow less legitimate than our own," Richard added. "The simple truth that we're all connected by movement, by our own humanity, by journeys that have come before for us."
© dpa/picture alliance via Getty IThe father of three, who has worked for humanitarian causes throughout his life, lamented the fact that he "didn't do enough" during the election to educate people about their options when it came to politics. "I didn't do enough work to skillfully convince people around me, close to me, not close to me, that this was insane to elect this person as president of the United States," he said at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway in June.
Learn more about Richard's family life below...
Richard relocated to Spain with his wife, Alejandra Silva, and two youngest sons, James and Alexander, after Trump's election in 2024. The family lived there for a year before returning to the US, where the actor's eldest son, Homer, lives.
"It was wonderful," Richard told HELLO! about their time in the European country. "We're back here now, but our family spent a year in Spain. And the most important thing I can say is that Ale was truly happy with her family, her friends, her culture, and her city. And the food."
The Pretty Woman star previously told People that Spain was a welcome change from the "stress" of living in the US. "My wife is so happy in Spain, so that's the best part of that," he said. "She has wonderful family, wonderful friends."
© Instagram/ @alejandragere"Spanish culture, there's a very open joy about it," Richard added. "[The people are] very warm and very open and a lot less stressed than what you find here in the US."
"It's a very happy place. Like the Italians. I mean, being in Italy, being in Spain, you're dealing with Latin cultures that just understand life in a different way than we do here."
