Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, insists he’s ’emotionally’ 32 amid backlash over dating younger women

Once upon a time in Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio dropped a possible explanation for his viral dating habits.

The 50-year-old actor — who has a reputation for dating much younger women — told filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson in an Esquire interview that he feels nearly two decades younger than he actually is.

Anderson, 55, kicked off the conversation about DiCaprio’s age by urging him to answer, “as quickly as” he could, “If you didn’t know how old you are, how old are you right now?”

When DiCaprio replied, “Thirty-two,” Anderson wondered whether turning 50 had been a “natural time for reflection.”

The “Titanic” star quipped that he “turned emotionally 35 last year.”

Anderson joked, “Your age is 50, but your emotional maturity is 32. How does that feel?”

The Oscar winner went on to explain how his perspective has shifted since marking the milestone birthday in November 2024.

“You have a desire to just be more honest and not waste your time. You have to just be much more upfront,” DiCaprio noted.

“It’s almost a responsibility because much more of your life is behind you than it is ahead of you.”

DiCaprio added that this mindset comes with “risking having things fall apart,” as well as potential “disagreements” or “going your separate ways in any type of relationship in life — the personal, professional.”

He believes this will only increase as “the next few decades … progress.”

The Golden Globe winner said, “I look at my mother, for example, and she just says exactly what she thinks and wastes no time. She spends no time trying to fake it.”

The “Revenant” star, who discussed many of his movie roles elsewhere in the interview, has been dating girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti since 2023.

Prior to his romance with the 27-year-old model, DiCaprio was linked to Gigi Hadid, Camila Morrone, Nina Agdal, Toni Garrn and more.

This star-studded dating history has garnered a reputation for the actor dumping partners “before [their] pre-frontal cortex has fully developed.”

DiCaprio’s ex Kristen Zang defended him in 2022, however, clarifying that she was the one to end their 1990s relationship upon deciding she had “outgrown” it.