Actress Camila Morrone will date whoever she wants and she doesn’t care what you think.
In a new interview with the L.A. Times, Morrone (22) gave rare details about her relationship with the ultra-private Leonardo DiCaprio (45), who is more than two decades her senior.
Morrone minimized their age difference, referencing a black-and-white shot of legendary actors Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart that she had posted to Instagram in July. Followers assumed that the photo was a reference to Morrone’s own relationship with DiCaprio, as Bacall and Bogart also had a hefty age difference, theirs being one of 25 years. She explained,
“There’s so many relationships in Hollywood – and in the history of the world – where people have large age gaps.”
But ever since she posted the photo, the backlash has been swift and severe and the scrutiny on their May-December relationship has been more heightened than ever. One follower pointed out,
“Sorry, but Leo doesn’t date anyone over 25.”
(They’re not wrong – we have a graph to prove it.)
Another poked fun at the caption, chiming in,
“A ‘bullshit’ like this.”
Morrone, however, made it clear that she does not factor in other people’s opinions of her relationship.
She said,
“I just think anyone should be able to date who they want to date.”
Morrone certainly has a point. Two consenting adults have, of course, every right to engage in a relationship. And it might be infantilizing to imply that Morrone, a grown woman, is incapable of making a grown-up decision.
And DiCaprio is certainly not the first male celebrity with a history of dating younger women. Dennis Quaid, 65, recently announced his engagement to 26-year-old Lauren Savoie (made less unsavory only by the tweet heard ‘round the world). And George Clooney, even though he has since settled down, has a dating history riddled with age discrepancies. There was his mid-aughts girlfriend Sarah Larson, who was a whopping 17 years Clooney’s junior, as was his next girlfriend, Elizabetta Canalis, who described Clooney as a sort of “father figure.” Pro wrestler Stacy Keibler, who Clooney dated in 2011, was 18 years younger than Clooney, a mere 32 to his 50. And let’s not forget the iconic Golden Globes moment of 2014 when hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler described the film Gravity as “the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.”
However, there is something undeniably disturbing about a seasoned actor pairing up, again and again, with the up-and-coming starlet-slash-model of the week.
Not to mention that Morrone is not even mid-twenties; she is a vulnerable, barely of-age model-turned-actress. And although she might *legally* be an adult, we all know how young 22 can feel. Looking back, did any of us really feel like an adult at that age? Most of us were still on our parents’ phone plan at 22.
And, as if that wasn’t creepy enough, DiCaprio was reportedly first introduced to Morrone when she was only 10 years old (he was in his early thirties). He essentially watched her grow up over the years. The two met through Al Pacino, who is an old friend of Leo’s and a “stepfather” to Camila. Sources say the two kept in touch and were “old family friends”.
It’s one thing to date someone you grew up with and quite another to date someone who was literally in elementary school when you met while you were a grown man.
Camila might think that age is just a number, but clearly, that’s not the case for Leonardo, who obviously has a proclivity for younger women. As mentioned earlier, Leo’s never dated anyone over the age of 25. You have to wonder, if Camila were 26, 27, or even — gasp — 28, would the two even be together?
Morrone, though, isn’t going to sweat people’s fascination with her and DiCaprio’s relationship, admitting that she “probably would be curious about it too.”
Instead, she is choosing to focus on her burgeoning acting career, making a point to promote her upcoming indie film Mickey And The Bear rather than her relationship.
“I feel like there should always be an identity besides who you’re dating… I understand the association, but I’m confident that will continue to slip away and be less of a conversation.”
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