Leonardo DiCaprio: The Parade Interview...

Leonardo DiCaprio has a new movie with Russell Crowe opening next week so we will be seeing a bit more of him than usual. He will be on the cover of the next issue of Parade magazine and he is as handsome as he is talented.

What an impressive body of work for a man so young with my favorite being "Blood Diamond." He has also starred in "The Departed," "The Aviator," "Gangs of New York," and "Catch Me if You Can" in addition to "Titanic," of course.

"Titanic was a period of rebellion for me," he says in the Parade interview. "I was very much portrayed in the press as a heartthrob. It wasn't what I wanted to be. It was like a runaway train. This thing just took off. I didn't understand what was happening to me. My instinctive reaction to this tabloid madness was to want to run away."

But Leo, a three-time Academy Award nominee, has learned to navigate superstardom. He's carefully chosen his films and become a well-known environmental activist.

"I hope I never get cynical," he said. "I think you need youthful energy, excitement, and optimism in life. There is a lot I want to do, and the more cynical you become, the more you sit on your butt and do nothing. The one thing that I would love is to never become cynical about the things I think are really important, like family, like the environment." He smiles. "What I want is to be known as someone who stood for something."