Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is dedicated to his conservation charity, traveling around the world to visit the animals and ecosystems that he hopes to save. However, one of these trips got very dangerous and he spoke about it on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in an episode that aired today.
DeGeneres talked to the Wolf of Wall Street star about his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and he said that he’s had several encounters with sharks, including a “gigantic great white.” One time, a shark came too close and he was almost eaten, which would have cut his great career short.
“I went scuba diving looking for sharks, and I had a huge fear of sharks,” he told DeGeneres, reports E! News. “When I did Blood Diamond in 2006, I actually got stuck in a cage with a great white, which was awesome.”
He said that the shark actually got into the cage with him. “They actually said in 30 years this is has never happened, but the tuna kind of got stuck in the top of the cage and the great white kept on and tried to bite it and went into the cage with me…and half of its body was in and out and I flattened down at the bottom,” DiCaprio explained.
He added that it was very close to him and “it chomped a few times, but I survived it.”
Thankfully, he did survive and can currently be seen in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio also just made The Great Gatsby and Django Unchained, so he needs to take a rest, which he does well, as he told DeGeneres.
image: Paramount