Emma Stone had a memorable first encounter with the “love” of her life. No, it didn’t involve her husband, Dave McCary. The 32-year-old actress admitted she was just like every other teen when she developed a massive crush on Leonardo DiCaprio after watching him in 1997’s blockbuster Titanic. The Cruella star revealed on Monday, May 17’s The Jess Cagle Show that when Leo presented her with an Oscar in 2017, it was a dream come true for her.
When asked what her most memorable moment was from when she took home the Outstanding Lead Actress Academy Award in 2017 for La La Land, Emma was quick to answer “Leonardo DiCaprio.” As the 2016 Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar winner for The Revenant, it was Leo who announced Emma’s name and presented her with the coveted gold statue.
“That was what was going through my mind ’cause it was him. And I was like, I’d seen Titanic seven and a half times in theaters. He was the love of my life,” the new mom, who recently welcomed baby number one, gushed. “I had a picture of him in my bedroom that was signed, that I had gotten for my birthday when I was like 12 years old. I was walking to Leo and I was like, ‘This is officially the most surreal moment of my life.’ I could not believe it.”
While Emma now tries to play it cool when she meets Leo, 46, at industry events, she still hasn’t gotten over that her big Oscar moment involved her preteen crush. “I think he probably thinks I’m like a little weird, ’cause whenever I see him, I’m kind of like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ You know, just in little moments either at the same event or something,” Emma explained. “He’s very sweet though. But that was truly, that was what was the craziest experience was the fact that it was him.”
The Maniac actress described the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hunk as “very tall,” and “so lovely,” and she’s always been in awe of Leonardo’s talent. “It was the fact that it was someone that I had grown up watching and that I admired so much,” Emma recalled of getting her Oscar handed to her by someone she reveres. “And like as an actor, I think he’s fantastic. And I’d watched him in everything.”