One of my most embarrassing moments as a showbiz journalist was Leonardo DiCaprio turning down a selfie with me at the BAFTAs.
It was February 14, 2016 and Leo had won Best Actor for his performance in The Revenant and all I wanted to do was say I had spent Valentine’s Day with the man of my dreams.
But if the opportunity arose once again, I’m not sure I’d bother getting my phone out. That’s because, for the first time in my life, Leo gives me the ick.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase, he’s just a bit of a turn off these days, not because of his quality as an actor – he’s still Box Office in that respect – but his obsession with dating young girls in their twenties when he’s about to hit 50.
Obviously, after watching Leo play Jack Dawson in Titanic, he became my first ever Hollywood crush and those feelings only developed when he starred in Catch Me If You Can, The Great Gatsby, and The Wolf of Wall Street, which I’ve watched countless times.
He was just SO good looking and the characters he played only further amplified his charisma.
But nowadays, Leo isn’t looking quite as handsome in paparazzi photos.
He often appears dishevelled, his hair unkept behind a baseball cap, he’s not in the best shape, and overall he seems sad… and lost.
His latest squeeze, Victoria Lamas, 23, joins a long list of models who’ve fallen for his charms, and most probably his power and bank balance.
She ticks everyone of his boxes – tall, slender, an Instagram profile full of bikini snaps, from money and most probably, comfortable in the knowledge that this relationship won’t see her walking down the aisle.
Indeed, Leo clearly doesn’t fancy getting married – he might not even want children – which is totally understandable and he has every right not to go down that road, if it’s not for him.
But, that said, is dating women who are under half your age on a consistent basis, trading them in like cars, really the way to live?
Surely, given none of them have worked out, it’s about time Leo at least tried to date somebody roughly his own age?
They’d have more in common, for a start, and also he might win back former admirers like myself who find him a touch sleazy due to the current company he keeps.
There are plenty of hot mid-thirties to 50-year-olds in Hollywood, right?
Surely he would have no problem finding somebody he could potentially settle down with in that age-range.
He only has to look at some of his fellow Hollywood hunks for inspiration.
George Clooney settled down with wife Amal, 17 years his junior, when he was 53 and Ben Affleck, 50, married his on/off lover Jennifer Lopez, 53, only last July.
Matt Damon, 52, has been with his wife Luciana, 46, for 17 years, while Ryan Reynolds, 46, and Blake Lively’s marriage is over 10-years strong and they’re currently expecting their fourth child.
However, rather than seeing the above as role models when it comes to relationships, Leo’s slowly morphing into the new Hugh Hefner.
Just look at his roll call of girlfriends.
Leo split from model girlfriend Camila Morrone, who had recently turned 25, in August, after seven years of dating.
He then quickly set his sights on supermodel Gigi Hadid, 27, but their romance proved to be short-lived and he swiftly moved on to current love interest Victoria, who joined him on holiday this week in St. Barts.
Gisele Bundchen dated Leo for five years until 2005, when she was 25, and Bar Refaeli was with the actor for the same amount of time until they split in 2009, when she was also 25.
History continued to repeat itself when the Hollywood star dated model Erin Heatherton, who was 22, and actress Toni Garrn for a year before it ended when she was 21.
Kelly Rohrbach dated Leo in 2016 before it ended when she was 25 and model Nina Agdal was also dumped before she was 25.
With his track record, Leo is comparable to reality star Scott Disick, 39, who after splitting from Kourtney Kardashian, has proceeded to date a list of younger women, including Sofia Richie, 15 years his junior, and Amelia Hamlin, who’s 21.
But Leo, who’s won Oscars, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTAs, and is undoubtedly one of the Best Actors of our time, is better than that and his reputation as a womaniser, is starting to eclipse his genuine talent and success.
As a 32-year-old woman and a huge fan of his work, my advice to Leo would be to move on from dating 20-somethings and being in unfulfilled relationships.
If he makes those lifestyle changes, he might get back in my good books again, and maybe I will pose with him if given the chance… that’s if he doesn’t think I’m too old
