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From growing up 'very poor' near a prostitution ring, Leonardo DiCaprio now owns an island and is worth $300M

Leonardo DiCaprio once revealed that he never did drugs as he grew up seeing people 'smoking crack and shooting heroin'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: One of the greatest performers of all time, Leonardo DiCaprio has established himself as a household name. Some of his best roles include Jack Dawson in 'Titanic,' Cobb in 'Inception' and Jordan Belfort in 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. Even though he is one of the world's most well-known actors, his life hasn't always been la vie en rose. The actor once admitted that he "grew up very poor" in an area of LA that was filled with drugs and prostitution.

Despite his rough childhood in the City of Angels, DiCaprio now has an estimated net worth of $300M, per Celebrity Net Worth. According to Forbes, he was the highest-paid actor in 2016 and he also owns an island in Belize.

'I grew up very poor'

Although DiCaprio's acting career began when he was a young man, getting jobs wasn't easy. It was when 'The Wolf of Wall Street' came out in 2014, DiCaprio revealed his upbringing. "It came from the fact that I grew up very poor and I got to see the other side of the spectrum," he told the Los Angeles Times at the time, as per The Independent.

DiCaprio said that there was a "major prostitution ring on my street corner, crime and violence everywhere," and he often saw "people smoking crack and shooting heroin." The 'Titanic' star added that his upbringing made it simple for him to steer clear of any of the unfavorable aspects that occasionally come with a life in Hollywood.

The 48-year-old actor continued by explaining how, in spite of his reputation as a party boy, his difficult early life helped him maintain his sobriety as he became famous in Hollywood. Stating that he has "never done [drugs]," DiCaprio reportedly said, "That's because I saw this stuff literally every day when I was three or four years old. So Hollywood was a walk in the park for me… I'd go to parties and it was there, and yeah, there's that temptation."

Leonardo DiCaprio's work pays off

DiCaprio reportedly begged his mother frequently to drive him to auditions so he could not attend public school, which eventually paid off. His performance in 'Titanic' was what really launched the rest of his career. The 1997 movie is regarded as one of his best works of all time, and he later went on to act in other lucrative movies, receiving his first Oscar in 2016 for 'The Revenant'.

DiCaprio gifted his mother a $7M home in Los Feliz. In addition, he is the owner of Blackadore Caye, a Belizean island located in the western Caribbean Sea. The Oscar-winning actor also pledged to donate $43M to "re-wild" the Galapagos Islands, a collection of 19 islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador that are home to rare fauna. His donation would also support Floreana Island's comprehensive rehabilitation, which is home to over 50 endangered species.