In the wake of Leonardo DiCaprio’s split from Camila Morrone (who is doing fine by the way! Fine fine fine fine fine fine fine!), gossips and writers like myself have once again trotted out The Chart that shows the Oscar winning actor’s penchant for dating women who’ve been alive a quarter-century, or less. But while the memes, headlines and speculation haven’t had any quotes to go on—neither Morrone nor DiCaprio has addressed the breakup—we now have a full op-ed from an unexpected source: the woman DiCaprio dated in his teenage years, Kristen Zang.
In the mid-90s, Leo and Zang, a former model and actor who now runs a dog food company and lives the quiet life in Oregon, dated on and off as the actor skyrocketed to fame with roles in Titanic and Romeo + Juliet. Zang, who is one year older than the actor, remembers him as “a very sweet and thoughtful boyfriend,” and yes, they broke up right after she turned 25 (her choice). She shared her memories with People after seeing “ageist” headlines about Morrone being “too old” for the Pussy Posse founder. Without shaming either party—Zang writes that we really don’t know what caused the split, which is true!—she wants to remind young women that they don’t lose value as they age, despite what certain industries, like modeling, may say.
Leonardo DiCaprio & Kristen Zang (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)Steve Granitz
