Leonardo DiCaprio's Sweet Awards-Season Gesture Goes Viral

Leonardo DiCaprio's unwavering support of his Killers of the Flower Moon co-star Lily Gladstone was commended by fans on Sunday, as the two attended the 81st Golden Globe Awards.

Despite his sustained career success over the decades, DiCaprio has been known to be more press-shy than many of his fellow Hollywood stars.

However, during the Golden Globes, he was seen giving interviews and posing for photos as he hit the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, with Gladstone. On Sunday, she became the first Native American to win the best actress in a drama.

DiCaprio plays the husband of Gladstone's Mollie Burkhart in the acclaimed Martin Scorsese-directed movie, which is based on David Grann's 2017 nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

The film follows the murders of Burkhart's Osage Nation family members, who are targeted for their oil-rich land in Oklahoma. Burkhart's husband, Ernest Burkhart, conspired to have a number of those murders carried out.

As photos circulated of Sunday's Golden Globes, a number of fans noted DiCaprio's uncharacteristic presence on the red carpet.

Commenting on a photo of DiCaprio posing alongside Gladstone, one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "He loathes red carpets, but he's spent all year making sure to stand next to her on them, knowing it will elevate her profile. Love that." As of press time, the post has been viewed more than 619,000 times.

"And trying to push the interview questions to her," another posted of DiCaprio, who was praised for giving Gladstone the moment to bask in her own limelight.

"He shouted her out on his Instagram and he barely even promotes his other movies on there," noted a third. "It's like environmentalist posts and 'Man, Lily Gladstone is great.'"

"It's cool to see him speak so highly of her," one X user wrote, while sharing a screenshot of DiCaprio's Instagram post in question.

In the post, which was shared back in November, DiCaprio shared a photo of himself posing with Gladstone at Variety's Power of Women event in Hollywood, where she was honored for her working in advocating for Indigenous women's rights.

"Working with @lilygladstone will forever be a highlight of my career," DiCaprio wrote. "Watching her become the soul of Mollie Burkhart while filming #KillersOfTheFlowerMoonwas a privilege, and I am so proud that we were able to tell this story together.

"Lily is not just an actor, she's an activist who brings others, including me, with her in all she does. Her work with the @NIWRC [National Indigenous Women's Resource Center], a native-led, nonprofit dedicated to ending violence against Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women, as well as her influence with the NGO Northeast Oklahoma Indigenous Safety & Education (NOISE), has been a crucial part of her life's work.

"It was an honor to share a few words about Lily's tremendous talent and incredibly important voice of change at @Variety's Power of Women event. I look forward to continuing to watch Lily make this world a better place, on and off the screen," DiCaprio added.

In part of her emotional acceptance speech at the Power of Women event last year, Gladstone praised DiCaprio for his own activism.

"Your dedication to uplifting Indigenous-led grassroots organizations is pretty badass," Gladstone said. "Leo, you understand that grassroots organizations, Indigenous frontline people, are the ones who are holding the line of the most valuable resources of this Earth. And I would add to that, in our Indigenous communities, our most valuable resource is our women, our children."

At Sunday's Golden Globes, DiCaprio was seen wearing a pin in solidarity with the Osage Nation. "I have my Osage pin on tonight because, you know, the Osage Nation, we're standing in unison with them for this movie," he said on the red carpet.

On winning her Golden Globe, Gladstone told the audience: "This is a historic win, it doesn't belong to just me, I'm holding it right now—I'm holding it with all of my beautiful sisters in the film, and my mother... I'm standing on all of your shoulders."

Concluding her speech, Gladstone dedicated her victory to "every little res kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves, in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust."