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Kate Winslet and Edward Abel Smith have been together since 2011, having met and married in just over a year. They keep the day-to-day of their life with their one son fairly private, but Smith has apparently been a huge support to Winslet in her successful career over the last 13 years.
Here’s everything to know about Edward Abel Smith, Kate Winslet’s dream man.
Who is Edward Abel Smith?
Smith is the nephew of well-known billionaire and amateur space traveler Richard Branson, who is the owner and founder of the Virgin Group. Before he married Winslet, Smith worked for Virgin Galactic, the space arm of the company. Time reports he worked under the title of head of marketing promotion and astronaut experience. Early in their dating, the couple was seen holding hands during the launch of Spaceport America in New Mexico.
He also had the title of Ned Rocknroll. While he was born as Abel Smith, at some point he legally changed it to the irreverent moniker. In January 2021, Winslet explained the situation on Jimmy Kimmel Live, saying, “So his birth name is Abel Smith. And as time went by, and Ned became Ned—who is quite an original personality—he just decided at one point in his life to just change his name to Rocknroll. Ned Rocknroll. So when I met him, his name was Ned Rocknroll. This is completely true.”
She went on, “When he changed his name to Rocknroll, I don’t think he had anticipated what might happen if he should have a girlfriend whose name was Kate Winslet and who was quite well-known and therefore the press might kind of not react so well to the fact that she had this boyfriend named Rocknroll. So, it was a little tricky.”
He decided to change it back as explaining it to other people got more complicated for them both.
“I got to the point where I’m like, you know, I’m filling in doctors’ forms and it says ‘mother’s name’ and ‘father’s name,’ and I’m like, ‘Honey… are we going to keep going?’” she continued. “And he’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ll just change it back.’ So, he changed it back.”
In an interview with the The Telegraph, Winslet admitted she had no intention of becoming Mrs. Rocknroll nor Mrs. Smith.
“I was never going to change my name to Rocknroll,” said the Oscar winner. “I’ve never changed my name to anything, so I didn’t see a reason to start now. I quite like Kate Winslet…In fact, I think it’s very flashy.”
Winslet has been married twice before, to directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes and stayed Winslet the whole time. In fact, Smith eventually adopted her name as a part of his. She told The New York Times, “He added ‘Winslet’ as one of his middle names, just simply because the children have Winslet. When we’re all traveling together, to all have that name on the passport makes life easier.”
She also shared some more details about his personality, saying, “He didn’t particularly plan on meeting and marrying a woman who is in the public eye and therefore having been so judged…He’s vegan, does yoga, breath work and cold water swims.”
Smith apparently has dyslexia, but he runs lines with his wife often.
“I’m so, so, so lucky,” she said. “For a man who is severely dyslexic, as he is, he’s great at testing me on lines. It’s so hard for him to read out loud, but he still does it.”
Smith now takes care of their son, Bear Blaze, setting aside space travel administration.
What else has Winslet said about her husband?
She told WSJ Magazine in 2015, “Thank God for Ned—really. He’s just so incredibly supportive, and he’s so much fun. He’s absolutely everything to me. And to all of us.”
That same year, she attributed many of her personal successes to her supportive husband.
“My creative life in the last few years has been really, really, colorful for me,” she told People. “And I’ve really, really enjoyed being able to embrace that. I have a wonderful man in my life who is so incredibly supportive that makes it possible for me to have those experiences. It’s been a really fun time.”
“He looks after us, especially me,” Winslet told The NYT. “I said to him earlier, like, ‘Neddy, could you do something for me?’ He just went, ‘Anything.’ He is an absolutely extraordinary life partner.”
In 2021, Winslet won an Emmy for outstanding actress in a limited series or movie for her role in the hit show Mare of Easttown. She told reporters in the press room after her win that when she was there 10 years earlier, she’d just connected with Smith.
