Leonardo DiCaprio donates $10 million to his grandmother’s homeland Ukraine
Leonardo DiCaprio has donated $10 million to support Ukraine amid its fight with Russia.
The actor’s donation to Ukraine has a personal connection, as his maternal grandmother Helene Indenbirken was born there. She was born in Ukraine’s Odessa as Jelena Stepanovna Smirnova, but emigrated to Germany with her parents in 1917.
Helene gave birth to Leonardo’s mother Irmelin Indenbirken in an air raid shelter in Germany in 1943. Irmelin divorced Leonardo’s father George DiCaprio when he was just one and raised the actor on his own.
Leonardo also became very close to his maternal grandmother, Helene, who always supported his acting career. Helene, who died in 2008 at the age of 93, used to accompany him and Irmelin at the premieres of his movies almost until the end.
Leonardo’s donation to his grandmother’s native land was announced by the International Visegrad Fund — a project of the Visegrad Group aimed at financial support for international initiatives, which promotes development in Eastern Europe, reports polishnews.co.uk.
Apart from Leonardo, several other actors and directors have also expressed support towards Ukraine amid the crisis. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively took part in a fundraiser for the country and pledged the donate double the amount that will be raised.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher also announced that they will be donating $3million to support humanitarian activities in Ukraine and the rehabilitation of Ukrainian refugees.
The couple said that they aim to raise $30 million in total, and revealed over the weekend that they have already managed to reach $15 million. Mila was born in Chernivtsi, southern Ukraine, in 1983 and moved to the USA in 1991.
Meanwhile, Robert De Niro spoke about the crisis in an address at Cambridge University, and said that everything must be done to stop Russian aggression. Several other celebrities, including United Nations ambassadors Angelina Jolie and Priyanka Chopra, have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.