Following Leonardo DiCaprio's split from Camila Morrone and his most recent blossoming romance
with Gigi Hadid, there's no doubt that Leo's love life has been on everyone's lips lately.
The actor has notoriously dated women under the age of 25, with Gigi - age 27 - being
the latest exception to the rule.
So, we figured we'd take a trip down memory lane and have a look at Leo's forgotten romance
with none other than Blake Lively.
Let's turn back the clock all the way to 2011; Blake Lively was twenty-three years old at
the time and riding the wave of her fame from Gossip girl.
Leo was around thirty-six years and already had a track record of dating young and beautiful
women in Hollywood.
The actor's last relationship at the time had been with Victoria's Secret model Anne
Vyalitsyna, which ended around 2009 during a brief split from his previous on-and-off
again girlfriend, Bar Rafaeli.
Leonardo and Bar had officially called it quits sometime around 2011.
It wasn't much later that the actor crossed paths with Blake for the first time.
It was reported that the pair first met when Lively came in to audition for the role of
Daisy Buchanan for the Great Gatsby film.
Although the role was eventually given to Carey Mulligan, Leo was immediately charmed
by Blake's impression during her audition.
By May of that year, rumors of a romance between Leo and Blake had sparked after they were
spotted canoodling and partying together on director Steven Spielberg's yacht.
Images of the couple embracing quickly made their way onto the internet and immediately
grabbed the public's attention.
There's no doubt that Leo has always been very private when it comes to his romantic
relationships.
The actor generally doesn't like being seen in public and often does whatever he can to
avoid the swarms of paparazzi that tend to swarm him wherever he goes.
His relationship with Blake was no different.
Despite the fact that their budding romance was all everyone wanted to talk about, there
wasn't much information to grab onto, to begin with.
Soon, the pair were spotted on a romantic getaway in Venice, Italy, and later, more
pictures surfaced of Blake and Leo on a cute date in Disneyland.
To everyone around them, the couple seemed perfectly smitten with one another, and they
were.
Lively was a student at the time and was studying abroad in France.
The actress has always expressed her passion for cooking and baking and even did a cooking
class at Le Cordon Bleu Interestingly enough, it might have been her ability to work magic
in a kitchen that had Leo hooked from the beginning.
A source close to Leo revealed, "She spent the whole time baking…
Leo's never dated a girl who can cook.
And he's smitten!"
What's more, the couple also had an interesting way of communicating when they weren't together.
While Blake was on set for Gossip Girl, she would send Leo pictures of a Flat-Stanley-style
doll to express her feelings.
Josh Safran, a showrunner for Gossip girl, shared, "She had this thing where she had
a doll that she took photos of that she sent to Leo."
Two months into their romance, there was a buzz that the pair had split.
However, the couple quickly put those rumors to rest when they were spotted on a shopping
trip, followed by a bike around New York City.
Then, when Leonardo had to jet off to Australia to film a movie, Blake followed by flying
across the globe to be by his side.
It seemed as though the couple was clearly going the distance to make their relationship
work and appeared inseparable.
When Leo wasn't working on set, the couple toured Down Under together, taking tours to
Wildlife Parks, and even got to spend time with koalas and dingos.
Unfortunately, it seemed that this was the last time the couple was seen together in
public.
Soon, more rumors of a breakup began to swirl, but it appeared that this time they were true.
By October 2011, Blake and Leonardo were over.
As it turned out, before their split, their relationship was beginning to take more of
a serious turn, and Blake was reportedly not ready to take the next step.
An insider close to the couple explained, "It was just too much, too quickly.
Blake wasn't ready to settle down."
The source also added that Leo was "more mature" than her and was looking forward to having
a more serious relationship.
Blake, on the other hand, was only twenty-four years old and wasn't looking to be tied down.
The insider revealed, "He's looking for someone to eventually start a family with…
That's not where she's at.
She's only 24!
He's more mature.
They're not in the same place right now."
Neither Blake nor Leo ever commented on their relationship or their split.
So the more intimate details of why they parted ways will probably remain a mystery.
But as far as we can tell, it's possible that Blake simply wasn't ready to take the next
step.
Another source shared that they'd split because of "distance and timing."
Ironically, Blake went on to marry Ryan Reynolds just a year after her split with Leo.
Lively and Reynolds began dating within weeks of her split from DiCaprio, and the two tied
the knot about a year later, in September 2012.
Since then, they've welcomed three daughters into the world and have delighted fans with
their very public banter on social media.
Also, the more exciting news is that Blake and Rylan are expecting their fourth child.
The actress announced her pregnancy with baby number four in September of 2022, debuting
her baby bump on the red carpet for the 10th Annual Forbes Power Women's Summit.
She also shared some snaps on her Instagram account, captioning, "Here are photos of me
pregnant in real life.”
To make things even more interesting, it was reported that Ryan Reynolds was once allegedly
jealous of Leonardo DiCaprio flirting with Blake Lively in front of him.
Back in 2016, the three came face-to-face at the Gala in New York.
Apparently, their run-in was awkward after Ryan Reynolds was left jealous of Leonardo
DiCaprio and Blake Lively being mushy.
An eyewitness explained, "Every time Blake was in Leo's line of sight he'd wink and grin."
Leo's flirtatious gaze reportedly had Ryan "furious," according to the eyewitness.
However, if there's one thing we know for sure, nothing will get in the way of Ryan
and Blake.
Not even Leonardo DiCaprio.
As for Leo, he's remained one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors.
Now nearing 50, DiCaprio has made it clear he's in no rush to get married.
His tendency to date much younger women has also drawn headlines.
As Cosmopolitan reports, DiCaprio has never dated a woman over 25.
His most recent relationship with Camila Morrone came to an end not long after she turned 25
years old.
The pair had been together for four years and had been together since 2017.
For a while, it seemed that Leo was well on his way to settling down with Morrone.
However, it was confirmed in August of 2022 that they were no longer an item.
It's not known why Leonardo and Camila split, but the media didn't hesitate to joke about
the fact that she was no longer in Leo's "acceptable age range" after she turned 25.
\ Most recently, however, Leo had been romantically
linked to none other than Gigi Hadid.
And, believe it or not, she's twenty-seven years old - just two years older than Leo's
usual dating criteria.
It turns out; an insider revealed that "Leo has been asking mutual friends about Gigi
and wants to get to know her."
In August of 2022, it was reported that Leo and Gigi were spending a lot of time together
during the summer and had even "hooked up" a couple of times too.
They had already known each other for several years and always shared an attraction to one
another.
So it makes it easier to hang out when they share a lot of mutual friends.
One month later, Gigi and Leo were photographed together for the first time at an exclusive
party in NYC.
A source close to the couple shared that Gigi and Leo have been taking things to the next
level by hanging out just the two of them rather than in group settings as they have
done in the past.
They explained, "Leo is not someone who is in-and-out of relationships.
He doesn't jump around hooking up.
They are taking it slow."
Soon, another source revealed that Leo "always had a soft spot" for Gigi.
Saying, "He thinks she's beautiful, of course, but also a wise and cool character who's got
a very cultured and educated take on life."
The source also reported that Gigi and Leo are officially dating and that their friends
are "happy to see them together, even though it did catch a lot of them off guard."
In early October, the new couple was spotted arriving at the same hotel in Paris.
While the couple didn't enter at the same time, Leo followed her inside shortly after
and then left the hotel a few hours later at 1 AM.
A friend close to the model shared that "Gigi is grateful he came into her life during this
time and has said it's exactly what she needed.
Leo is very laid back, and she likes that their relationship is casual and easy.
It's going well so far."
We love taking a look back at romances that made headlines all those years ago.
Even though Blake and Leo didn't work out, it was clearly for the better.
Blake has never been happier with Ryan and their growing family.
And who knows, maybe Gigi and Leo will be Hollywood's next-it couple!