The 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' actor used to keep secret his smoking habit from his mother when he was still a young up-and-coming actor in the 1990s.
- September 9, 2020
AceShowbiz - Leonardo DiCaprio once made a deal with photographer Steve Eichner to keep his smoking habit secret from his mum.
The snapper told the New York Post's gossip column Page Six the "Titanic" actor fretted about his image and didn't want his mom to know that he smoked when he was still an up-and-coming star in the 1990s.
He features in Eichner's new book, "In the Limelight: The Visual Ecstasy of NYC Nightlife in the '90s", which chronicles the 1990s club scene in pictures - but the photographer revealed Leonardo made a deal with him one night in 1994 at Club USA not to snap him smoking.
During a party for Nicolas Cage's thriller "Red Rock West", he said he got a shot of the young actor buying something from a "cigarette-and-candy girl," but he couldn't tell what.
"(Leonardo) came over and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Hey man, can you do me a favour and please don't use that photo? You can take photos of me tonight,' " he recalled.
When asked why he didn't want the picture to go public, Eichner recalled that the star told him, "I was buying cigarettes, and I don't want my mum to know that I smoke."
DiCaprio is famously close with his mother, Irmelin Indenbirken, and his fear of her finding out he smoked was previously revealed by his "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" co-star Johnny Depp.
In 2016, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Depp recalled the rising star pestering him for a smoke, to which he responded, "No, I will not give you a drag of my cigarette while you hide from your mother again, Leo."
