Mom felt bad for a 'homeless' man so she offered him pizza — he turned out to be a Hollywood icon
Sometimes, an act of kindness can lead to an unexpected surprise and a great memory for a person. A mom who was on vacation with her son and husband experienced something similar when she decided to give some pizza to a homeless man. To her surprise, the homeless person turned out to be Hollywood star Richard Gere, who was filming a movie at the Grand Central Terminal when the family happened to pass by the area, as per the New York Post.
The French woman hadn't realized that the actor was only playing the role of a homeless man. So she felt bad for him and decided to give him some pizza as the family had bought a large one and they had a lot of leftovers, as per the outlet. The woman, Karine Gombeau, was visiting Little Italy with her family when she spotted the person who seemed like a homeless man sifting through a trash can for food near the Grand Central Terminal. Overwhelmed by the sight and unaware of the true story about what was happening, the woman decided to do something good for a complete stranger. "What’s in the bag?" Gere had asked the woman. She responded half in French and half in English, "I said, 'Je suis désolée [I am sorry], but the pizza is cold.'"
The actor graciously accepted what the woman offered and also thanked her for it. "He said, 'Thank you so much. God bless you,'" the woman revealed. The woman eventually realized the true identity of the man when a hotel worker in Salisbury gave her a copy of The Post two days later. The woman was very surprised to find her photo in the paper and discover who the "homeless" man actually was. "It was magical . . . It’s crazy, this story. It’s unimaginable that something like this could happen," the 42-year-old expressed. "I think he’s very handsome, even at his age. 'Pretty Woman' was not my favorite movie, but I really loved 'Chicago,'" the woman went on.
The woman was sad to see homeless people in the city. "It leaves me really sad to know we waste food and they have nothing. It really moves me." The woman's husband was also shooting clips with his handheld camera along the place and didn't realize that he was on the set of the film "Time Out of Mind." The woman recounted, "People came from all over the station and told my husband to stop filming. People came out of the subways. It was very confusing." The couple had completely missed that an actual shoot was taking place at the Grand Central Terminal until they came across the news.
"He was going through a bin; I had food with me. I thought, 'He should have my pizza instead of going through that bin," the woman told ABC News. "He was dressed in a way, with a cap, not shaved. He looked like a man going through a rough time." The woman pointed out that Gere's convincing act showed that he was truly made to be an actor. "He is a good actor," she commented. "It is a great story. A memory of New York I will keep for a very long time. For the first time in New York, I could not have wished for better," Gombeau went on.