Hiding things from your parents is a given when you’re a teenager. But when you’re famous and have the paparazzi following your every move, you have to go to greater lengths to keep your secrets from your mom. Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio.
According to Page Six, the actor once asked a photographer not to publish a photo of him because he didn’t want his mom to know that he smoked.
Photographer Steve Eichner’s new book, In The Limelight: The Visual Ecstasy Of NYC Nightlife In The ‘90s, reportedly broke down the story, which took place in 1994 when DiCaprio would have been about 20-years-old.
DiCaprio, who had recently starred alongside Johnny Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, was caught on camera buying cigarettes during a party at NYC’s Club USA.
“[DiCaprio] came over and tapped me on the shoulder,” Eichner recalled of the actor approaching him after he had taken a picture of him buying something from a cigarette girl.
“[DiCaprio] said, ‘Hey man, can you do me a favor and please don’t use that photo? You can take photos of me tonight,’” Eichner said, noting that DiCaprio added, “‘I was buying cigarettes and I don’t want my mom to know that I smoke.’”
In the years since, DiCaprio appears to have traded smoking in for vaping (he was even said to have helped Robert Pattinson quit smoking). But in 2016, Depp did confirm that he would often respond to DiCaprio on the set of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape with, “No, I will not give you a drag of my cigarette while you hide from your mother again, Leo.”
Between Depp and Eichner, we have a feeling DiCaprio wasn’t all that successful when it came to hiding his smoking habit from his mom after all.
