DiCaprio hated being ‘piece of cute meat’

Actor considered giving it up for a while after huge success of ‘Titanic’

	Leonardo DiCaprio smiles as he is greeted by Japanese fans upon his arrival at the Japan premiere of his film "The Departed" in Tokyo Friday, Jan 19.
Koji Sasahara / AP

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updated 6:55 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2007

NEW YORK - Leonardo DiCaprio wanted to give up acting for a time after the hit movie “Titanic.”

DiCaprio was back to being considered a “another piece of cute meat” after the 1997 film’s spectacular box office success, an image he had wanted to get away from after his days on the cover of teen magazines, he told Newsweek for editions on newsstands Monday.

“It was pretty disheartening to be objectified like that. I wanted to stop acting for a little bit,” he said at the magazine’s Oscar panel discussion with other actors. “It changed my life in a lot of ways, but at the same time, I can’t say that it didn’t give me opportunities. It made me, for the first time, in control of my career.”

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After many successful movies and critical acclaim, DiCaprio said he loves acting.

“There’s no other art form in the world that affects me more. There’s nothing that I walk away from feeling transformed by the way I do with cinema,” he said.