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The Schmooze

Will Leonardo DiCaprio Convert to Judaism?

How does Leonardo DiCaprio look in a yarmulke? We might get a chance to find out. The (UK) Daily Mail reports the 36-year-old, Catholic-born megastar may convert to Judaism as a step toward nuptials with his Israeli supermodel girlfriend Bar Refaeli. “A source” apparently told the Daily Mail that “Leo’s sudden intense interest in Israel, its culture and religion is the clearest sign yet that he intends to marry Bar.” DiCaprio “has been staying with her in a hotel in Tel Aviv for a few days at a time recently so that he can avoid the photographers outside her apartment in a nearby suburb,” according to the source.

When in the Holy Land with his beloved, Di Caprio stays “in the royal suite of the five-star Dan Hotel on the beach of Tel Aviv,” the Daily Mail says. The source, again: “It is a very romantic and private hideaway for them and an easy commute to Jerusalem Old Town, where Leo has spent hours exploring its religious sites with a guide.”

The pair met in 2005 at a Las Vegas bash for supergroup U2, according to the Daily Mail. DiCaprio had just split from his girlfriend of six years, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen; like Refaeli, Bundchen was a model for underwear peddlers Victoria’s Secret.

Refaeli, meanwhile, generated headlines of her own this week; Haaretz reports the professional poser sparked a mini-firestorm in Egypt after calling the country “primitive” in an interview. Refaeli had visited Egypt on vacation with tantrum-throwing fellow model Naomi Campbell. “Egyptian media claims that derogatory comments made by Bar Refaeli were intended to harm the country’s tourist industry,” Haaretz reported

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