Richard Gere and estranged wife Carey Lowell both appeared in Manhattan divorce court Thursday, Oct. 23, after living apart for more than a year.
The pair, who separated in September last year after 11 years of marriage, did not speak to each other as they waited to see Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper, New York Daily News reported.
Gere, 65, and Lowell, 53, who share a 14-year-old son named Homer, have issues of custody and division of assets to deal with. The divorce involves Gere's reported $100 million fortune, including a $65 million estate in Bedford, N.Y., according to Page Six.
After the hour-long proceeding, the Golden Globe-winning actor called his driver, and ducked out a back door with his lawyer David Aronso and another attorney. Lowell, who portrayed the James Bond girl in the 1989 film "License To Kill," did not also stop to talk with reporters.
Lowell, who filed the contested divorce proceeding against Gere in June, was at once granted an "anonymous" caption to keep their divorce case out of the public eye.
The duo, who tied the knot in November 2002, reportedly headed to a split due to lifestyle differences.
"The Buddhist actor craves privacy, and Lowell likes socializing with other bigwigs," according to a source that Page Six quoted.
The "Pretty Woman" actor spent the summer filming Oren Moverman's drama "Time Out of Mind," in which he plays a homeless man on the streets of New York trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Gere said at the Film Society of Lincoln Center earlier this month that film is one of the projects he is most proud of during his long career, Page Six reported.
"What probably really helped was I was right in the middle of a divorce [from Lowell], so the emotions were right on the surface," he said at the event.
Gere started dating "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi in April after he had broken up with Lowell.
"It started very recently and quietly. It's very new," a tipster told Us Weekly at the time. "I wouldn't even go as far as calling them a couple. They are dating. It's the first time Padma has dated anyone since Teddy [Forstmann, who died in 2011], and it's something she's been approaching very, very delicately."
However, earlier this month, it was revealed that the two had also split after six months of dating.
A source previously told Page Six that the two "decided they would be better as friends."