Leonardo DiCaprio Once Offered To Coach THIS Former Presidential Candidate On Public Speaking

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio once offered his help to Pete Buttigieg during his 2020 presidential campaign. The Hollywood icon offered to coach Buttigieg ahead of the presidential debate, but things didn't quite work out.

Lis Smith, who worked on Buttigieg's team for the campaign, recently revealed to TMZ about DiCaprio's offer. She also explained that Buttigieg didn't grasp how huge the offer was due to his limited pop culture knowledge.

Read on to find out more.

Smith worked as a political strategist and senior communications director on Buttigieg's campaign team. During her interview with TMZ, she revealed that DiCaprio offered to coach Buttigieg privately ahead of his presidential debate and fine-tune his speaking and debate skills.

The "The Wolf of Wall Street" actor extended the offer in late 2019 when he attended a private fundraising event for Buttigieg at a Los Angeles mansion. The private event had a lot of high-brow Hollywood celebrities, such as Katy Perry, Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and Ashton Kutcher.

Smith revealed that while Buttigieg was extremely appreciative of the support and millions of dollars in donations from DiCaprio and all the other celebrities, he could not recognize many of those he met due to his poor knowledge of pop culture and Hollywood's big stars.

According to TMZ, most of the celebrities there also just took selfies with Buttigieg, like Hilton, and asked about the campaign. DiCaprio, however, took things a step further by inviting Buttigieg into one of the backrooms in the mansion and making his coaching offer.

According to Smith, the "Catch Me If You Can" actor's offer was to train Buttigieg on the best ways he could deliver his debate points at the debate and hold the audience's attention.

DiCaprio has played a wide range of roles in many films and has made it clear with each role that he is an amazing actor and meticulous with how he delivers his lines. He is easily one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood history.

Smith also shared how excited she was when Buttigieg told her about the offer. She said she was shocked when she asked if he got the actor's number, and Buttigieg said he hadn't. She attributed it to Buttigieg's limited pop culture knowledge, which made him not realize how big a deal the offer was.

Unfortunately, the offer didn't work out, but Buttigieg didn't disappoint DiCaprio at the debate. According to Smith, he handled the debate extremely well, and it was a turning point in the campaign, elevating him to the top of polls in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Despite the support, Buttigieg eventually suspended his campaign on March 1st, 2020. The following day, he announced he was exiting the race and endorsed former Vice president Joe Biden as his preferred candidate.

Smith shared more stories and experiences from the campaign and her years in politics in her upcoming book, titled "Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story." However, she didn't include the Buttigieg and DiCaprio story in the copy, reserving it for her interview with TMZ.

On December 15th, 2020, President Joe Biden announced that he had picked Buttigieg as his nominee for the post of secretary of transportation. At the time, the President said, "Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a patriot and a problem-solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation."

"I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us," he continued, "I trust Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision — he will bring people together to get big things done."

On January 21st, 2021, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to confirm Buttigieg's appointment. He was confirmed for the position on February 2nd and became the first openly gay person to hold a position in Cabinet.