Thought 'The Wolf of Wall Street' Was Bad? Honestly: Belfort's Real Life Was Worse

The decadence, debauchery, illegality and ignorance portrayed in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is something to behold. You’d be forgiven for thinking Leonardo Dicaprio, and the script and characters that surround him, are caricatures of the real Jordan Belfort and friends; over-emphasised for comic effect; blown out of proportion to hit the message home.

Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio live out the lives of those imfamous Wall Street brokers

But the real Jordan Belfort has admitted that while a great deal of the film’s content is true, some of it was even worse during his hedonistic days on Wall Street. If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, then you’ll find that hard to believe.

"The drug use and the stuff with the hookers and the sales assistants and the sex in the office … that stuff is really, really accurate," said Belfort. "In some respects, my life was even worse than that. Although I'd say I did more quaaludes than cocaine," he added while talking to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Quaaludes were an incredibly controversial drug when they’re true effects were realised, but for a brief honeymoon period – regardless of the extortionate prices per bottle – Belfort and his cohorts could get hold of the pill that inspired the infamous "cerebral palsy stage" at the beginning of the film’s third act.

"I spent hundreds of hours with Leo doing everything you could imagine, from hanging out socially to showing him what it's like to be on drugs," he said. "I took him through the stages and I was rolling on the floor in his house as he was filming me,” says Belfort.

That scene has criticised by disability-rights groups, and it’s not difficult to see why. For all the hyperbole, conjecture and artistic embellishment, it’s clear that some of Belfort’s debauched adult existence isn’t fully realised in Scorsese’s Oscar nominated epic. He didn’t, however, punch his wife in the stomach. Didn’t do it.

"I never punched my wife in the stomach," he said. "It was more of a struggle where she grabbed onto my leg and I kicked out. I was out of my mind. I was at the lowest point of my life. I'm not trying to minimise it; it was awful what I did. But it was under the [influence] of massive quantities of drugs."

Watch the trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street below, and make sure you stay close to Contact Music as we’ll bringing you everything you need to know from The Oscars on Sunday night (March 2).