In the age of gender reveal parties and social media worthy “we’re expecting” announcements, new parents literally have the world at their fingertips as they share their good news.

So why did 69-year-old Richard Gere and 35-year-old wife Alejandra Silva keep their bundle of good news under wraps? Simple. They were waiting on an important blessing.

Baby Blessings

Gere, a long-practicing Tibetan Buddhist, and Silva, a follower of the religion of kindness, reached out to someone special for their social media reveal.

“A very special moment just a few minutes ago… Getting blessings for our precious to come,” read the young Spanish publicist’s message. The photo showed Gere proudly wrapping his arms around Silva’s waist as the Dalai Lama placed his hands on her baby bump and offered blessings for their unborn child.

“We couldn’t announce it before telling HH Dalai Lama”, Silva added, speaking of the exiled spiritual leader and her husband’s personal friend.

The photo, now removed from Silva’s Instagram page, can still be seen here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn1Z5e2HiLt/

His Pretty Woman

It’s been 36 years since Gere donned his Naval Officer uniform in An Officer and a Gentleman and 28 years since he climbed that fire escape in Pretty Woman, but the Golden Globe winner is obviously still making women swoon.

After a four-year relationship, Gere and Silva tied the knot earlier this year in an April wedding that took everyone by surprise. Now his pretty woman is carrying his child.

This is not the first child for either of the new parents-to-be. Gere has an 18-year-old son with ex-wife and model Carey Lowell and Silva has a 5-year-old son with ex-husband and geologist Govind Friedland.

Geriatric Parenthood

Getting pregnant in your 40s is considered risky, expecting in your 50s or 60s is practically unheard of, but from the beginning of time men have fathered children well into their later years. Gere tops the list of other famous older fathers just beating out Robert DeNiro who fathered a child at 68 and Steve Martin who welcomed a child at 67.

Fortunately, doctors have stopped referring to women past the age of 35 as having “geriatric pregnancies” and now more gently classify them as women being of an advanced maternal age. And we think that sounds a lot better, too.

How old were you and your partner when you had children? Would you ever consider having children in your 60s if you could? What do you think of Gere and Silva’s special blessing? Join in the conversation!