Gere ‘dating Padma’

Richard Gere and Padma Lakshmi are reportedly an item.

The actor and Top Chef host are said to have been dating for a short while now.

While they are apparently fond of each other, it’s early days yet for the pair.

"They're just getting to know each other," a source told People magazine. "They're just dating. This is the first person she's dated since Teddy [Forstmann] passed away and she's just putting a toe in the water of the dating world again. They're not sure where it's going yet."

Padma was with billionaire businessman Teddy for several years, on and off. The 71-year-old passed away of brain cancer in 2011, but left a trust fund for her daughter Krishna Thea Lakshmi-Dell, Padma’s three-year-old child with ex-boyfriend Adam Dell.

She was also married to novelist Salman Rushdie from 2004 to 2007.

Richard split from wife Carey Lowell in 2013 after being married for 11 years. They have one son, Homer, born in 2000.

Richard was also married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. According to Cindy, their 17-year age difference was to blame for the relationship breaking down.

"I just think your twenties, for women, is such a time when you're starting to come into your own and feel your own power and connect to your inner strength, and it's hard to do that -- it's hard to change -- in a relationship, because what one person might have signed up for, all of a sudden, you're not that anymore," she told Us Weekly. "I think I was more willing at 22 to be, like, 'Okay, I'll follow,' but then you start going, 'Well, I don't want to just follow -- I want to lead sometimes and I want to walk side by side sometimes.'"