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titanic im flying scene
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Culture > Entertainment

The Dicaprio Dilemma: Why Won’t Celebrities Date Girls Their Age?

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.

When I thought I couldn’t like Sabrina Carpenter anymore, I saw her 25th birthday cake posted on Instagram. The cake featured a popular meme of Leonardo Dicaprio’s face that says, “Nooo don’t turn 25 your so sexy aha.” If you could have heard the holler I hollered. 

If you don’t know about this meme, let me give you some context. Dicaprio, who you probably know for his roles in movies like “The Titanic” or “Wolf of Wall Street,” is also known by some for his pretty specific taste in women. Namely, how he seems to have never dated someone over 27 years old, according to one source. The rumor was especially brought to attention after Dicaprio broke up with Camila Morrone just months after she turned 25 after four years together! 

More recently, I saw an Instagram post that captured Spiderman actor, Tobey Maguire, with 20-year-old model Lily Chee, sparking rumors that the two are dating. I happen to frequently stalk Lily on Instagram because she’s so gorgeous. Respectfully, Lily, I think you can do better. Oops!

Then there are the OGs: Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder who dated in the 90’s. They met when Ryder was only 17 while Depp was 26 and soon started dating. Yikes. That same year they were engaged, Ryder being 18 by that time. 

Everyone here is legal (mostly) so that’s not what’s concerning. I’m not even claiming that there is a problem with these relationships. It’s not like the age gap itself is a problem, although a difference in life stages can prove to be a hurdle in a relationship. But, in this case, with the media’s nosiness, celebrity status and a fanbase with crazy supporters…there’s a ton of added nuance and a power imbalance that I can see easily being exploited but, whew, that’s a whole can of worms I’m not going to open right now.   

I still can’t help but wonder what makes this such a recurring dynamic in Hollywood. Is it the nature of being an actor and feeling a need to be eternally youthful for the screen? Maybe that’s a feeling that can be obtained by dating someone so much younger. Is it a status symbol that says, “Yeah, look at what I can pull?” 

Though I think the bigger question is, do women his age just not want him? In that case, this dynamic says loads more about the guy than the girl. Because when you’re a young woman who has caught the eye of a Hollywood celebrity, what’s a girl to do?! I don’t doubt that some of these relationships are genuine, but in an industry where relationships are notoriously…messy… that’s probably not the case most of the time. And to that, I say: get that bag pookie! I’m kidding. Kinda.

Ranya is a junior transfer student at UF and is a staff writer for Her Campus. She's majoring in microbiology and minoring in art history on a pre-med track. She enjoys reading, playing with dogs at the humane society, and playing painfully mediocre piano. You’d most likely find her in a Starbucks line while scrolling through her camera roll because she misses her dog back home. She hopes to become a physician and push for female advocacy within healthcare.