Fact Check

No, Leonardo DiCaprio Isn't Moving to Woodstock, Illinois

A viral article that claimed that Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio was moving to a suburban community in Illinois actually came from a fake news site.

Published March 1, 2016

Claim:
Leonardo DiCaprio is moving to Woodstock, Illinois.

On 1 March 2016, the entertainment web site The McKenzie Post published a fake news article claiming that Oscar winner Leonardo Dicaprio was moving to Woodstock, Illinois (a suburban community on the outskirts of the Chicago metropolitan area) because he was "tired of the Hollywood lifestyle":

In a surprise to everyone in Hollywood and certainly everyone in Woodstock and the Chicago metropolitan area, Oscar winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio announced today in an interview with People Magazine that he was “tired of the Hollywood lifestyle” and that he wanted to “live in a place where people were people and whose sincerity you didn’t have to question”.  He recently visited Woodstock while scouting out a film location with producer Martin Scorsese and, according to Scorsese, “Leo immediately fell in love with the relaxed lifestyle and the small town feel of Woodstock and was telling everyone that he was going to move there.”

This article is a piece of fiction from The McKenzie Post, which bills itself as a "fantasy news site":

The McKenzie Post is the premiere fantasy news site in the world!  All news articles on mckenziepost.com are satire or pure fantasy.

While Leonardo DiCaprio did recently win his first Oscar, the actor has not announced any plans to move to Woodstock, Illinois (or anywhere else) in order to get away from Hollywood.  Other (still untrue) versions of this rumor involve Tom Cruise, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Brad Pitt, all purportedly moving to small towns in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or somewhere in Canada.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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