No Fleas for Leonardo DiCaprio’s Beard

We can all agree that Leonardo DiCaprio is kind of a hot commodity. Guys can’t help but enjoy his films (if you say you didn’t love Inception, you’re a liar), and ladies can’t help but swoon over the 40 year-old movie star. He’s a trendsetter, and possibly the only man on the planet that can be out of shape and somehow turn it into a trendy look. But while dad bods don’t really work in a real-world setting unless you’re a multimillionaire movie star playboy with a few private yachts at your disposal, we can at least take stock in the fact that Leo is frequently seen sporting a beard, and that’s a look even we, as regular guys, can rally behind. And according to breaking reports, we can all rest easy in the knowledge that his beard totally doesn’t have fleas.

This is actual news, you guys.

Several media outlets including Cosmopolitan, jezebel.com, celebuzz.com, and countless others took a break from talking about the Kardashian’s pet bunny and Ashley Madison scandals to inform the public that people are going around claiming Leo is riddled with fleas.

Fleonardo DiCaprio, am I right?

Apparently a friend of his claims to have spotted a “flea nest in his big bushy beard” while he was filming his latest movie The Revenant. Nice friends you’ve got, man. Do they punch you in the kidneys for no reason, too?

Leo grew and maintained his mammoth beard for several months for the new film in which he plays an 1800’s fur trapper named Hugh Glass who is mauled by a bear, and then robbed by his friends and left for dead. Spoiler alert, he survives. Because no one hires Leo just to kill him off in the first act. That’s what Kellan Lutz is for.

However the stories of fleas in Leo’s beard appear to be dispelled, as Brad Weston – CEO of the film studio New Regency, the company behind The Revenant – has stepped forward to say that these rumors are, and I quote, “Not true.”

Compelling stuff from Brad Weston.

But now the real question – can humans get fleas? Typically, people designate fleas as a problem exclusive to animals, and commonly believe that lice are the human equivalent problem. But good news everyone, we can get fleas.

According to betterhealthtips.org, this “human flea” species is known as Pulex irritans, and like many other flea species, “often serves as a vector for disease, the most well-known of which is plague.” Well that’s comforting.

The site does go on to calm our nerves by explaining that “instances of fleas on humans that have resulted in the spread of a disease are extremely rare however, despite well-known incidents such as the spreading of the Black Death in the middle ages.”

I don’t think I’ve ever felt a more fleeting sense of relief than I did reading “You’re probably fine. Or you could have the Black Death.”

So Leo fans, you can breathe a sigh of relief that these flea rumors are, in all probability, just bunk started by some goofball who thought they were being funny. Or Leo could have the plague. But probably not. But maybe.