Leonardo DiCaprio proves he makes an excellent host as his first-ever charity gala raises £15 million.
We knew Leonardo DiCaprio's charity gala in St Tropez wouldn't disappoint. The Hollywood A-lister hosted his first-ever charity event and managed to raise a whopping $25 million (£15m) for his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Not bad for a first run, eh?
‘Today we stand at the 11th Hour – facing a tipping point of environmental crises unprecedented in human history. Not since the age of the dinosaurs have so many species of plants and animals become extinct in such a short period of time,’ Leo said to his foundation’s many supporters.
‘We must now make an effort to protect the rich biodiversity that could allow nature to eventually recover. The good news is there are solutions to these massive problems. Efforts like tonight will start addressing them,’ he added, setting the evening’s cause in motion and kicking off highly anticipated auction conducted by Simon de Pury.
VIPs including Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez, who’ve been hopping about St Tropez this week, Marion Cotillard, Jared Leto, Petra Nemcova, Joan Collins and Leo’s girlfriend Toni Garrn watched as millions of pounds were raised.
Leo began the auction with his own Harley-Davidson signed by Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro and himself.
Then Bono and Julian Lennon took to the stage, performing a touching rendition of ‘Stand By Me’, which preceded Bono auctioning off his guitar for $1 million (£587,000).
A Damien Hirst sculpture, ‘Golden Myth’, which sold for over $6 million (£3.5 million), raised the most money that evening, closely followed by two walk-on roles in one of Leo’s next films for $2.4 million (£1.4 million) each. And a Picasso drawing went for a cool million (£587,000).
Songster Robin Thicke serenaded guests as the auction ended, and the crowd spent the night dancing and mingling to their hearts’ content as the St Tropez sunset slowly drifted down behind them.
Nice work, Leo.