Is Leonardo DiCaprio Vegan? Not Exactly, but He’s Funding the Future of It

Here’s a question that sounds simple and isn’t: is Leonardo DiCaprio vegan? He’s Hollywood’s most famous environmentalist, he’s poured money into more plant-based and lab-grown meat companies than almost any celebrity alive, and vegan blogs have claimed him for years. He’s also the guy who ate raw bison liver on camera for The Revenant.

The honest answer is that DiCaprio has never once said he’s vegan, or even vegetarian. He’s something else, and arguably more useful: a billionaire-adjacent backer writing checks that could make the whole animal-free food system real.

The myth, and where it came from

The “DiCaprio is vegan” idea has one main source, and it’s secondhand. In a 2019 piece, musician Moby described him as a “bold-faced vegan.” DiCaprio never confirmed it. The one dietary change actually on record comes from Cowspiracy co-director Keegan Kuhn, who said Leo gave up beef after the 2014 film but “didn’t appear to have gone fully vegan.”

Against that, the counter-evidence is vivid: for The Revenant he ate raw bison liver on camera, a scene vegans quote precisely because it’s the opposite of the label. So the accurate picture is a plant-leaning eater who’s never made a vegan claim, not a secret vegan.

Where he’s undeniably powerful

Forget the plate for a second, because this is the real story. DiCaprio is one of the most active celebrity investors in the future of food:

• Beyond Meat, investor and advocate since 2017
• Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms, cultivated (lab-grown) meat, invested and advising since 2021
• Perfect Day, animal-free dairy proteins, advisory council
• Neat Burger, the vegan chain Lewis Hamilton co-founded, a strategic investor in its 2022 raise

His reasoning is climate, stated plainly, via Axios: “One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system.” He’s told his tens of millions of followers to swap meat for plant-based at least once a week. That’s not a vegan diet. It might be more consequential than one.

The vegan-adjacent timeline, tap to expand

Fact or fiction?

Quiz: how well do you know DiCaprio’s diet story?

Is Leonardo DiCaprio vegan in 2026?

No, and to his credit he’s never pretended to be. His plate is largely undisclosed and has included meat on camera. His wallet, though, is one of the loudest pro-plant-based voices in the celebrity world. Call him an ally, not a vegan, and it’s the accurate call.

More vegan celebrity checks:

• Is Lewis Hamilton vegan? Whose burger chain Leo backed
• Is James Cameron vegan? The one who actually went all in
• Is Beyoncé vegan? Another honest “not quite”

Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons