Just like Jack’s hand, Kate Winslet had to let go of movies like Titanic.
The Mare of Easttown actress recently confessed to taking on more independent acting roles after starring in the 1997 blockbuster film because of how intense her celebrity became.
“Journalists would always say, ‘After Titanic, you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things,'” Kate remembered in an interview with Net-a-Porter published Feb. 12, “and I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your f—king life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.'”
And that’s not to say the Oscar Winner—who shares daughter Mia Threapleton, 23, with ex Jim Threapleton and son Joe Mendes, 20, with ex Sam Mendes—wasn’t appreciative of her early rise to stardom.
“I was grateful, of course,” Kate continued. “I was in my early twenties and I was able to get a flat. But I didn’t want to be followed literally feeding the ducks.”
And while the 48-year-old—who married Edward Abel Smith in 2012—has certainly managed to remain one of Hollywood’s A-listers over the years, starring in beloved films like 2006’s The Holiday and 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, she believes today’s generation of actresses are even better equipped to handle the spotlight.
Kate said that young women today “know how to use their voice,” whereas in the aftermath of Titanic, she felt she “had to look a certain way, or be a certain thing, and because media intrusion was so significant at that time, my life was quite unpleasant.”
This isn’t the first time Kate has spoken up about the intense scrutiny she faced following her first movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. She previously got candid about the criticism she received over her weight in the film.
“Apparently I was too fat,” Kate said during a December 2022 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “Why were they so mean to me? They were so mean. I wasn’t even f—king fat.”
Noting that she was only 22 years old at the time, she reflected, “[Now] I would have said, ‘Don’t you dare treat me like this. I’m a young woman, my body is changing, I’m figuring it out, I’m deeply insecure, I’m terrified, don’t make this any harder than it already is.'”
Mare of Easttown
In the 2021 HBO Max series, Kate Winslet plays Mare Sheehan, a detective who investigates the murder of a teenage mother in Pennsylvania. Winslet received an Emmy nod in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her performance.
Ammonite
Set along the southern coast of England in the 1840s, the movie follows paleontologist Mary Anning (Winslet). After a career of legendary discoveries, Mary turns to collecting common fossils, which she sells to tourists to support herself and her mother. One day, she meets a man named Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) who asks her to look after his wife Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan). He offers to pay Mary, and she reluctantly agrees. During their time together, Mary and Charlotte grow close and develop a romantic connection.
Steve Jobs
How good was Winslet’s acting in this movie? Just ask Siri. Winslet portrays Joanna Hoffman, a former marketing executive for Macintosh, in this 2015 movie about Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) and three of the Apple founder’s major product launches. Winslet received SAG Award and Oscar nominations for the supporting role and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
Mildred Pierce
Mare of Easttown wasn’t Winslet’s first Emmy nomination. She also earned one for playing the titular character in HBO’s 2011 adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel Mildred Pierce.
The story is about a woman who fights to support her family during the Great Depression. After her husband leaves, Mildred starts working at a diner and selling pies. She later launches her own restaurant business, which becomes quite successful. The five-part miniseries also explores Mildred’s relationship with a man named Monty (Guy Pearce) and centers on her complicated dynamic with her daughter Veda (Evan Rachel Wood).
The Reader
Set in post-World War II Germany, the film follows Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), who had an affair with a woman in her 30s named Hanna Schmitz (Winslet) when he was 15. Michael would also read to Hanna as viewers later discover she doesn’t know how. Hanna disappears, but they see each other again when Michael is a law student attending a war crimes trial and learns of Hanna’s past as a guard at a concentration camp.
The 2008 film was based on Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 book, and Winslet won her first Oscar for her performance in the movie.
