#James Cameron’s romantic-catastrophic three-hour, two-hundred-million-dollar extravaganza “Titanic” celebrates 25 years with a new voyage in world cinemas. Eh, when was it 25 years? We still remember how much room there was on that door next to Kate Winslet for Leo DiCaprio freezing in the water. But perhaps if his character Jack hadn’t sunk in the film’s finale, the young actor wouldn’t have emerged in Hollywood as such a spectacular megastar.
A quarter of a century later, Leo is still “on top of the world” like in that scene from the monstrously successful blockbuster. The funny thing is that Titanic is celebrating its 25th anniversary right around the time millions of people online are debating how DiCaprio refuses to date women over 25. Graphs trace how for the past decades the actor has only been tied to ladies below this apparently psychological limit for him.
Leo DiCaprio at US Open Day 14 in 2021 with then-girlfriend Camila Morone
Photo: Getty Images
He broke up with his last serious girlfriend, Camila Morrone, shortly after her 25th birthday. It became too much for the entire Internet people and the social networks were overheated with collages, jokes, criticisms, brags and comments about the preferences of Leo DiCaprio. Unlike his colleagues such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney, he never tried family life. At 48, Leo isn’t just dating women until he’s 25. He only dates women under the age of 25 who are supermodels.
Leo DiCaprio had a long relationship with Bar Refaeli
Photo: Getty Images
A week ago, he was photographed with 19-year-old catwalk starlet Eden Polanyi and it caused a natural disaster of reactions. Many of the jokes turned into accusations. Prominent feminists, activists and authors in prominent publications almost directly accused him of sexual predation and abuse of his position. “It’s not funny anymore. He’s rich, he’s got power and fame, he’s nearing 50 and dating teenage girls. There’s no balance in that kind of relationship. It’s on the brink…” That’s more or less the synthesis of thousands of complaints about the exploits of the former favorite of… teenage girls.
Leo DiCaprio with his ex Gisele Bundchen
Photo: Getty Images
They accuse Leo of wanting to “freeze” time and forever remain that young playboy from the late 90s, when he was 24 and dating the then 18-year-old Gisele Bundchen. Seasonal shots of Leo on a yacht surrounded by a harem of graceful divas add fuel to the fire of discontent.
Another segment of society is still at the level of jokes with Leo and the young boyfriends. Titanic at 25, Leo with up to 25″,”If he remembers the premiere of Titanic, it’s a big one for him”,”Leo walked across the schoolyard to survey the crop of future boyfriends. Just a few more years to adulthood…”, “Leo took her new boyfriend on the Titanic, but the movie was so long that by the end she was too old for him…”
Leo DiCaprio flirts with Rihanna in 2016, here the singer is in her 20s
Photo: Getty Images
And there are men who defend it, pointing out the evolutionary mechanisms behind the desire of older alpha males to be with younger females, giving historical examples and recalling the hypocrisy of ecstatic feminists who were euphoric at every “Demi Moore” news dating a guy 20 years younger than her” or “Madonna stabs a young dancer”.
The truth is that as famous as Leo DiCaprio is, these public debates between genders, generations and even political camps reveal deeper rifts in the understanding of sexual dynamics in an age of constant surveillance, social networks like “OnlyFans” and post- a modern deconstruction of traditional archetypes.
Leo DiCaprio is only a symbol of diverse processes in a society inspired by nostalgia and a collection of longings, ready at the same time for fierce keyboard wars with hard positions without concern for nuance and context.
Leonardo is undoubtedly a bit of a special case. He is a prestigious star without a past of scandals, drugs, beatings and rip-offs. He is not a rock star or a rapper, but he demonstrates a lifestyle of another era and of another celebrity profile. Yachts, young models, beer bellies and a complete disregard for the public’s expectations of how a former teen idol on the verge of 50 should behave. His hedonism is at odds with social norms even for the classier part of Hollywood’s elite. In this regard, Leo seems to be closest to his idol and comrade Jack Nicholson. Even over the years he begins to resemble him in some typical diabolical “Nicholson” mannerisms and grimaces.
If he remembers Titanic, it’s big for Leo
Photo: Getty Images
But Leo DiCaprio knows – or at least knew – how to buy indulgence in liberal Hollywood. He is one of the most environmentally committed stars in a world of environmentally committed stars. He keeps talking about climate change and raising funds for all sorts of environmental causes. He also photographed Greta Thunberg, who is young but far from the idea of a supermodel. But even Leo’s environmental reputation did not protect him from an avalanche of criticism for his attraction to young women. Not to mention, there’s something particularly ironic about the way Leo preaches carbon footprint reduction for normal people while jetting around the world in the private jets and yachts of oil billionaires.
So, the Internet is on the verge of inventing a new villain – Leonardo DiCaprio. However, he is unlikely to write a melodramatic autobiography to tell “his story”. It is very difficult for us to think of him as a victim. And it must be even more difficult for him. It’s as if there’s an awareness in his carefree gaze, caught by the paparazzi stalking the actor on another yacht with five more models under the psychological “Dicaprio” age limit of 25. He just doesn’t care. For now.