Leonardo DiCaprio has been photographed escorting Gossip Girls star Blake Lively around the south of France this week, and rumors are flying about their hot new romance. According to US Magazine, ever since his most recent breakup with on/off girlfriend Bar Refaeli, DiCaprio has been in “hot pursuit” of Lively, whom he first met last November at a business meeting in New York City. They met again at actor Jeremy Renner’s birthday party in January, where they “locked lips,” and most recently met up again at the Cannes Film Festival. This time around, DiCaprio was free to pursue Lively, who had broken up with her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley last September.
DiCaprio has reportedly been wining and dining his new love all over the French Riviera. US Magazine published photographs of them walking hand-in-hand on a moonlit street in Monte Carlo, where they stayed at the luxurious Hôtel de Paris next door to the casinos. On May 29, they were seen partying on board an opulent £32 million Benetti yacht owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green, founder of the British fashion store Topshop. US reports they arrived on the yacht “hand in hand” and a source told the magazine that DiCaprio introduced Lively as his girlfriend. “It sounds unlike Leo – but I’ve also never seen him like this with a girl,” the source is quoted as saying. “I would say they’re totally smitten.”
DiCaprio, who is 36, has a reputation in Hollywood for partying hard with lots of beautiful women, but Lively, now 23, has a more restrained, squeaky clean reputation, at least until recently. Lively’s good-girl image has taken a beating with the recent release of five photographs that are allegedly of her in the nude in front of a mirror. Lively claimed the photos were fake and threatened to sue the publications that printed them. The very next day, however, 17 more photographs appeared on the internet. Her representative told People Magazine, “Blake has never taken nude photos of herself.”
While upset over the release of the photographs, Lively has been consoling herself by spending time with DiCaprio in Italy. The pair moved on from the French Riviera to Venice on June 1, where People reports they went on a boat ride and met up with friends. Viva Italia!
