Hollywood actor LEONARDO DiCAPRIO was once savagely beaten by drug dealers near his childhood home in Los Angeles.

The Titanic star says living in an area where prostitutes and drug dealers were common was a "terrifying" experience - but it made him steer away from drugs.

He says, "I got beat up a lot. I saw people having sex in alleys. I remember I was five-years-old and this guy with a trenchcoat, needles and crack cornered me."Seeing the devastation on my block, seeing heroin addicts made me think twice about ever getting involved in drugs. It's evil."