Leonardo DiCaprio's mother still accompanies him to most red carpet events. He likes to honor her for her many sacrifices she made as a single momwhen he was growing up.
It's not every day that we see a man honoring his mother late into his adulthood, but actor Leonardo DiCaprio is different from the rest. He continues to be close to his mom even now when he's 46. Many women have come and gone in his life but none of them stayed for a long time the way his mom has.
His parents, George DiCaprio and Irmelin Indenbirken, 77, divorced when he was only a year old and the Oscar-winning actor was raised by his mom mostly. She worked many jobs and was dedicated to raising her son well. In fact, his parents thrived at co-parenting, and gave him many experiences even though money was tight, writes Esme.
"My parents . . . were so good at keeping my environment strong and keeping everything around me not focused on the fact that we were poor. They got me culture. They took me to museums. They showed art to me. They read to me. And my mother drove two hours a day to take me to University Elementary School," said the Wolf of Wall Street actor. The actor was a scholarship student at the prestigious University Elementary School, now the UCLA Lab School.
Eventually, when he went back to the public system, he got beaten up on the first day. He says it was because he had "the attitude of everyone living harmoniously with one another," reports LATimes. This motivated him to get out of the public school system and his way out was acting.
His mom believed in him and his dreams from the time he was 12. "She supported this little kid who said, 'I want to be an actor,' at twelve years old, which is ridiculous, and she drove me to all these auditions. She’s the only reason I’m able to do what I do," he said.
He was picked by Robert DeNiro from a few hundred young actors auditioning for This Boy’s Life in 1992. There has been no looking back since then. Over the years, with his career spanning many decades and awards, he's still a much sought after actor.
He's also an eligible bachelor who has dated Gisele Bundchen, Eva Herzigova, Blake Lively, and many others. And yet, he takes his mom along when he's on the red carpet. She was with him when he won the 2016 Oscar for best actor. In fact, she was his red-carpet plus one since at least the premiere of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape 1993.
After winning Best Actor at the BAFTAs in 2016 for The Revenant, he was quoted by Vogue as saying about his mom, "I would not be standing up here if it wasn’t for this person." "I didn’t grow up in a life of privilege. I grew up in a very rough neighborhood in East Los Angeles.... This woman drove me three hours a day to a different school to show me a different opportunity." He also added that it was her birthday that day and wished her, as per Daily Mail. "I love you very much," he added.
He honors her hard work and sacrifices often. "My mother is a walking miracle," the Shutter Island star has told The Telegraph. She has attended multiple Golden Globes, Academy Awards, and other events right by his side. She was also given cameo roles in the movies he worked in, according to Daily Mail. For instance, she played a nun in the 1995 film Total Eclipse.
He once outbid Paris Hilton for an £8,000 Chanel handbag at a charity auction in Cannes so he could present it to his mom. His dedication to her is so intense that he once said that to show grief on screen he imagined her "horribly charred in a fire."
The biographer of Hollywood's biggest mama's boy, Lisa Arcella told Daily Mail, "Leo often takes his mother as his date to awards shows. She loves all the glamour and excitement, and he loves to spoil her. He wants to repay her for all the sacrifices she made when he was growing up. But it runs deeper than that. They are extremely close."
DiCaprio has never been married but he has been dating model and actress Camila Morrone, 23, since December 2017. They have a 23-year age gap, which she defended recently, as per Business Insider.
References:
https://esme.com/single-moms/sons-daughters/leonardo-dicaprio-giving-credit-where-credit-is-due
https://www.vogue.com/article/leonardo-dicaprio-taking-his-mom-to-golden-globes
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/20-loveliest-honest-things-anyone-could-say-mothers/leo/
