The longtime Tibet advocate is in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, to take part in official ceremonies and engagements marking the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday, which began earlier this week. The Tibetan spiritual leader turns 90 on Sunday, July 6.
During a press interaction, Gere recalled a moment when he told the Dalai Lama he was tired and asked if he could stop. “Yes, you can stop when I stop, which is never,” the Dalai Lama had quipped.
The actor said, “This is not a commitment for one lifetime. This is many lifetimes of commitment, not just for Tibet but for the people of Tibet who have been highly abused for many decades by the Chinese Communist Party.”
#CORRECTION | Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh | Hollywood Actor, Richard Gere, says “…Once I went to the Dalai Lama when I was feeling very tired. I asked His Holiness, Can I stop now? He said yes, you can stop when I stop, which is never. This is not a commitment for one… pic.twitter.com/dQqTkmIOis
– years (@ani) July 3, 2025
Chair of the International Campaign for Tibet, Gere is known to be one of the most steadfast champions of the Tibetan struggle for freedom from Chinese occupation since his first trip to the hill town of Dharamshala, the Dalai Lama’s residence in exile, in the 1980s.
He has since raised concerns over China’s severe violation of human rights in Tibet on multiple occasions, including the 65th Academy Awards in 1993.
Before presenting the Oscar for Best Art Direction, Gere said he wished if he could “send love and truth and a kind of sanity” to the then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping so that China would pull back its troops and allow Tibetans to live as free, independent people again.
More than 70 years after the Dalai Lama led the Tibetan struggle for freedom, he announced on Wednesday that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and that his successor with be chosen according to traditional practice in Tibetan Buddhism.
(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
