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Leonardo DiCaprio is widely regarded as one of the biggest sex symbols in the entertainment industry today. The Wolf of Wall Street star has been in the spotlight for most of his life, having gotten into show business when he was just a kid. 

Since landing the lead role in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, DiCaprio has consistently been identified as one of the more desirable men in entertainment. It’s needless to say that the superstar actor got tons of attention from women after the movie came out, but he needed a bit of coaching with the ladies before that time came.

Luckily, the budding star had actor Pauly Shore to turn to. According to DiCaprio, Shore gave him a ton of advice about sex and dating. 

Leonardo DiCaprio had many conversations with Pauly Shore about sex

Leonardo DiCaprio speaks onstage during the 2019 Global Citizen Festival: Power The Movement in Central Park
Leonardo DiCaprio speaks onstage during the 2019 Global Citizen Festival: Power The Movement in Central Park | Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen
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Prior to working on This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993, DiCaprio had some smaller roles on TV. He was still quite young, and it was around this time that he talked with Shore about sex. 

DiCaprio opened up about the experience in a resurfaced 1994 interview with Interview Magazine.

“I did about 30, 40 commercials, and then I got Growing Pains during 11th grade and for 12th grade I had some home study. I did 24 episodes and towards the end of that I auditioned for This Boy’s Life. My first TV show had been Parenthood, which got canceled after 13 episodes. I played Gary Buckman, the kid who masturbated and was really disturbed that his father left. During that time I remember talking to Pauly Shore about sex a lot.”

DiCaprio recalled one instance, in particular, in which the two chatted about women and sex for an extended period of time.

“One day we sat down on a mattress and talked about it for an hour, because I was curious, and he told me about girls and everything.”

He went through a period of sexual discovery during his teenage years

DiCaprio’s conversations with Shore happened when he was still just a teenager, no older than 14 or 15 years old. At the time he had very little knowledge of himself sexually, which he wasn’t afraid to admit.

“I’m still exploring in a lot of ways. I don’t know myself completely.”

The ‘Titanic’ star didn’t necessarily desire to be a sex symbol

After DiCaprio starred in Titanic, he was instantly labeled as a sex symbol. However, DiCaprio didn’t seem to keen on the idea of becoming one when he was still a teenager. 

“I think sexiness in most people — and this is going to sound superficial — is definitely something you don’t plan,” DiCaprio said. “I don’t necessarily think I’m…whatever. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what people think of me. The main thing I don’t want to do right now is create an image for myself.”

DiCaprio clearly had no idea what was in store for him, but it’s fair to assume that he’s gotten things figured out now.