30 Apr TheF-Force&Richard Gere
French Tourist Who Gave Food to ‘Hobo’ Richard Gere: ‘I Don’t Believe This’
By ABC News | ABC News Blogs – Mon, Apr 28, 2014 5:34 PM EDT
One French tourist’s kind-hearted gesture captured the world’s attention for a very unique reason.
“I gave my doggy bag to a homeless [man], and the homeless is Richard Gere,” Karine Gombeau, the woman whose action made headlines, told ABC News.
Gombeau, a Paris native, says she was visiting New York’s famous Little Italy neighborhood last week when she saw a man sifting through the garbage. Assuming he was homeless, she gave him her leftover pizza, having no idea that he’s actually Hollywood mega-star Richard Gere.
“He was going through a bin, I had food with me,” she explained. “I thought, ‘He should have my pizza instead of going through that bin.”
It turns out Gombeau had stumbled onto the set of Gere’s new movie, “Time Out of Mind,” in which Gere, 64, plays a homeless man.
“He was dressed in a way, with a cap, not shaved,” she said of the actor’s unbecoming appearance. “He looked like a man going through a rough time.”
In French, Gombeau told ABC News that Gere asked her what she was offering. When she replied it was barbeque chicken pizza, she says he thanked her and told her, “God bless you,” never revealing his A-list identity. In fact, she says she had no idea until she saw the picture of her encounter in the media the following morning while eating breakfast.
“Suddenly, I look up to see the news and there I see myself, a picture of myself on the news,” she recalled. “I was taking my breakfast with my family in the morning, and I see myself on the TV and think, ‘What did I do? I don’t believe this.'”
Gombeau, who says she is a fan of Gere’s 2002 movie, “Chicago,” believes her encounter with the undercover leading man proves he’s obviously in the right business.
“He is a good actor,” she said. “It’s an amazing experience. It’s crazy.”
And as for her first trip to New York City, “It is a great story,” Gombreau explained. “A memory of New York I will keep for a very long time. For a first time in New York, I could not have wished for better.”
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RebeccaC
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RebeccaC • 50 minutes ago Report Abuse
One day I made a nice homemade coffee cake. I took a big piece across the hall to my new apartment neighbor. She refused it. I consoled myself by telling myself…”she doesn’t know you have been a prize winning cook and baker”. Later I was out walking my dog in a small neighborhood park. A… More
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LaughandASmile
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LaughandASmile 22 minutes ago Report Abuse
Hope those “punk kids” went to the juvenile detention center for a long while. You, on the other hand, were very kind and compassionate. Good job! 🙂
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nunya
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nunya • 21 minutes ago Report Abuse
Last year, just a few weeks before Christmas, I was taking my children shopping, on the way to the local mall we saw an elderly man sitting on a bridge holding a sign (we live in a very small town, and had never seen him before); he looked rough, dirty, and tired. He was holding a cardboard sign… More
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AL
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AL • 24 minutes ago Report Abuse
all of these comments are nice and apparently from good kind hearted people but at a intersection 192 and ellis road in Melbourne fl . there are a group of professional freeloaders who claim to be disabled vets (and may be) who on a daily basic switch between leg braces and casts on the same guys… More
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24Kt
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24Kt • 6 hours ago Report Abuse
Two weeks ago a man was holding up a sign that said, “Homeless, Need Dog Food”. He had 2 dogs with him. I stopped at the store and got him a sack of dog food, a few cans of wet dog food, bottles of water, then to Lil Caesars for a 1 ltr. soda and a large pepperoni pizza. He was still on the corner… More
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All
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All • 4 minutes 10 seconds ago Report Abuse
we as a nation should not have homeless with all we are blessed with. All homeless are not drug users drunks or crazy people. we as a nation should help them. I see it as the cost of living has gotten so out of hand and so high cost that a average person can not afford to feed and shelter… More
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Lois
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Lois • 5 minutes ago Report Abuse
I read each of these stories and it makes me feel good about everybody.. we all love to give and it is a humbling trait. I read no indignation here just heart warming stories. I remember knowing a family that had to live in a tent because they were evicted… I told some co-workers that I was… More
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Barb
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Barb • 3 minutes 56 seconds ago Report Abuse
I can’t believe Gere after the fact, didn’t invite her to lunch, or give her a photo autograph, something, just for her good deed towards him. You never know who might end up on the street even movie stars without jobs. Personally? I can’t stand the guy.
If it were Dansel Washington,… More
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Jenna Carmichael
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Jenna Carmichael • 1 hour 20 minutes ago Report Abuse
What a beautiful story. It hit close to home. I grew up a neglected child on welfare. My mother was always high and spent whatever she ‘earned’ from her boyfriends on heroin. I remember searching for food in garbage cans. Halloween was my favorite. My little brother and I dressed as hobos (our… More
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Dayra
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Dayra • 2 hours 27 minutes ago Report Abuse
This past February in South Texas, the temperatures were expected to reach below 0 for a few consecutive nights, and as I was driving late back home from the university after studying the whole day, I saw a homeless man with his dog walking on the edge of the street, and knowing the alarming… More
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Hawk
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Hawk • 4 hours ago Report Abuse
+++ According to the U.S. Dept of Housing, there are over 670,000 homeless people in America on any given night, and 200,000 of them are veterans who have fought in foreign wars.
… More
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ne French tourist’s kind-hearted gesture captured the world’s attention for a very unique reason.
“I gave my doggy bag to a homeless [man], and the homeless is Richard Gere,” Karine Gombeau, the woman whose action made headlines, told ABC News.
Gombeau, a Paris native, says she was visiting New York’s famous Little Italy neighborhood last week when she saw a man sifting through the garbage. Assuming he was homeless, she gave him her leftover pizza, having no idea that he’s actually Hollywood mega-star Richard Gere.
“He was going through a bin, I had food with me,” she explained. “I thought, ‘He should have my pizza instead of going through that bin.”
It turns out Gombeau had stumbled onto the set of Gere’s new movie, “Time Out of Mind,” in which Gere, 64, plays a homeless man.
“He was dressed in a way, with a cap, not shaved,” she said of the actor’s unbecoming appearance. “He looked like a man going through a rough time.”
In French, Gombeau told ABC News that Gere asked her what she was offering. When she replied it was barbeque chicken pizza, she says he thanked her and told her, “God bless you,” never revealing his A-list identity. In fact, she says she had no idea until she saw the picture of her encounter in the media the following morning while eating breakfast.
“Suddenly, I look up to see the news and there I see myself, a picture of myself on the news,” she recalled. “I was taking my breakfast with my family in the morning, and I see myself on the TV and think, ‘What did I do? I don’t believe this.'”
Gombeau, who says she is a fan of Gere’s 2002 movie, “Chicago,” believes her encounter with the undercover leading man proves he’s obviously in the right business.
“He is a good actor,” she said. “It’s an amazing experience. It’s crazy.”
And as for her first trip to New York City, “It is a great story,” Gombreau explained. “A memory of New York I will keep for a very long time. For a first time in New York, I could not have wished for better.”