One of Leonardo DiCaprio’s ex-girlfriends has spoken out about the star’s pattern of only dating women aged 25 or under, slamming media coverage of his latest split as “ageist”.
WATCH: Camila Morrone responds to age gap with Leonardo DiCaprio
Ex-model Kristen Zang, who dated the actor in the ‘90s, appeared to defend the 47-year-old’s latest ex, model Camila Morrone, 25.
In a piece for People Magazine, Kristen described her own romance with Leo when they were both in their 20s and how she called it off shortly after her own 25th birthday.
“Now over 20 years later, when I read the headlines and online comments with his most recent ex-girlfriend being referred to as having ‘aged out’ or being ‘too old for Leo at 25’, puh-lease (insert dramatic eye roll),” she wrote.
“I think we can and should do better. What kind of message is this sending to young people?”
Recalling a time when models were told their careers would be over at 21, Kristen said she’s glad to see things are “slowly changing for people in that industry”.
But she slammed media outlets for suggesting Camila’s age makes her undesirable or unfit to date a Hollywood movie star like Leo.
She added: “As far as Leo and his latest breakup, who knows what happened. Maybe she really cared for him but was just ready for the next chapter, perhaps it’s temporary, or maybe it’s none of our business but can we stop with the ageist headlines and comments?
“But let’s keep the funny memes coming, they’re stellar. Truly.”
Social media users had mixed reactions to the piece, with many suggesting Kristen had missed the mark and misinterpreted the coverage of Leonardo’s love life.
“No one is calling Camila old, she’s 25, that’s literally the joke,” one Twitter user penned. “Leo is the one with a problem for only dating girls whose brains haven’t finished developing.”
Another suggested that while Kristen’s comments were well intentioned, “20-something models don’t need anyone to reassure them that they’re still desirable”.
There has long been debate over Leonardo’s trend of exclusively dating women in their early 20s despite approaching 50.
While some fans support the actor’s right to date whomever he wishes, other have said his love life reflects a worrying trend of older men refusing to date women their own age in Hollywood.
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