Richard Gere: Hamster Never Went Up My Bum

We can’t remember how many years ago we heard the infamous “Richard Gere got a hamster stuck up his bottom” legend — suffice it to say that over many years it passed into folklore and we were considering passing it on to our children as a bedtime story, then to our children’s children. It’s nice to have these traditions, no?

But unfortunately, Richard Gere himself has ruined our dreams, by actually confronting the long-running rumour and nixing it. “I stopped reading the press a long time ago. Lots of crazy things came up about me at first, especially from the tabloids. There is an infamous ‘Gere stuck a hamster up his bum’ urban myth. I just decided not to pay attention to any of it. It’s a waste of energy,” he told Metro.

There’s something squeamishly embarrassing about the fact Gere knows about this rumour. Who told him? We want to meet the guy or girl that actually went up to the silver fox and asked him about his ass and a small rodent-like creature. Still, in the meantime, we’re going to have to seek out a new celebrity, and a new totally improbable rumor to pass along. [Photo: AFP]