What You Never Knew About Kate Winslet
Over the years, Kate Winslet has solidified her place as one of the greats. Her career has included unforgettable roles in dozens of films, including "Sense and Sensibility," "Titanic," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "The Holiday," and "Revolutionary Road," not to mention the series "Mare of Easttown." Of course, the list of her best roles could go on and on — as of 2021, she has appeared in over 60 projects and she's still going strong (via IMDb). Winslet has received numerous accolades for her work, including one Academy Award, four Golden Globes, and an Emmy, as of this writing (via Brittanica).
As Rose in "Titanic," Winslet established herself as the quintessential English rose. However, since then, she's proven her range, with roles that are more gritty, dark, and complex, proving there's a lot more to her than we may have initially thought. Curious to learn even more about the indomitable actress? Here are some of the things you never knew about Kate Winslet.
Kate Winslet once dabbled in pop singing
We all know Kate Winslet the Actress, but few of us are familiar with Kate Winslet the Singer. Turns out that Winslet recorded a full-length pop song called "What If" for the 2001 animated film "Christmas Carol: The Movie," in which Winslet voiced Belle. Winslet even made a moody music video for the song!
In 2017, Winslet explained to BBC Radio 1 how the music video came about. Apparently, the producers of the film had asked her if they could release the song as a single, and Winslet agreed so long as they gave the profits to charity. However, when they released the song, they didn't mention the charity. "So, suddenly, it was like, 'Kate Winslet's launching a singing career and she's at No. 6,'" she recalled. In her BBC interview, Winslet was then forced to watch her old music video, which left her mortified. "This is awful — this is the kind of s*** my husband does to me just for a laugh ... Turn it off!" she said, cringing and covering her eyes. Clearly, Winslet would rather forget her pop star days!
She got her start as an extra in a commercial
Kate Winslet's first official professional role was in the TV series "Shrinks" in 1991 (via IMDb). However, it turns out, her first real acting job was in a commercial for the cereal sugar puffs. However, as she explained in an interview, she didn't even make the final cut.
Apparently, when she appeared on "Good Morning America," the presenters didn't realize that she never actually was seen in the commercial. "They showed a clip of a sugar puffs commercial and there was a girl with big red hair in bunches," Winslet shared. They then said that that girl was her in her first-ever acting role — but, it wasn't actually her. "I was the left arm in the right of frame," Winslet laughed.
When Winslet explained that she wasn't the girl in the clip on live TV, the producers weren't too pleased!
This is where Kate Winslet keeps her Oscar
As of this writing, Kate Winslet has one Oscar for her performance in "The Reader" (via Reuters). As she told talk show host Graham Norton, she had been nominated several times in the past, but never won. So, when she finally got her Oscar, she was over the moon — and she wanted to display it somewhere everyone would see it. Instead of in her living room or dining room, however, she chose somewhere a little more bizarre — her bathroom!
"The best place really for Oscar is actually the loo," she said, "because then when everyone goes in for a wee or a poo, they can really take their time in front of the mirror with Oscar." As she explained, all of her guests love to hold the award and pretend they've won — so, in the bathroom, they can have the chance to live out their Oscar dreams. Winslet added, "I can always tell, because they flush and then there's about another five minutes."
As she told "Lorraine," she stole the idea from actress Emma Thompson after seeing her Oscar in the bathroom and doing a fake speech in the mirror herself. We totally love this idea — but we worry that award is covered in germs!
Kate Winslet dated her Sense and Sensibility co-star because of a psychic prediction
One of Kate Winslet's first major roles was as Marianne Dashwood in the 1995 version of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility." The film also starred Emma Thompson as Marianne's sister, Elinor, and Greg Wise as John Willoughby, Marianne's handsome love interest. It turns out, Winslet almost dated her co-star, but he ended up marrying Thompson instead!
As Thompson explained on "The Graham Norton Show" (via Hello!), Wise had been told by "a friend of his who was a bit witchy" that he would meet his future wife on the set of the movie. "He assumed it wasn't me because I was married and quite [a] lot older than him so he thought it might be Kate," Thompson said.
So, Winslet and Wise went on a date to Glastonbury, but Winslet was apparently "so bored" by the experience. Once Wise realized that Winslet wasn't the one for him, he and Thompson got together, and they've been a couple ever since.
The actress once wanted to be a hairdresser
Long before Kate Winslet became a famous actress, she had another career plan — hairdressing! As she explained to Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show," she actually began by cutting her own hair. It happened when her mother booked her a salon appointment before a wedding. Trying to save her mother some money, Winslet hid under the kitchen table and cut her own hair.
After her success with her own hair, Winslet began looking for more people to test out her skills on. Unfortunately, her next haircut didn't go quite so well. "Alarmingly, a family friend, who is a fully grown man, ladies and gentlemen, allowed me to cut his hair," she recalled, "and I cut off a piece of his ear." Apparently, she even remembers seeing a little bit of his ear fall to the ground! Luckily, the man in question now thinks of his ear scar as a "claim to fame." But nevertheless, it's no wonder Winslet gave up her dreams of hairdressing so quickly!
Kate Winslet lost weight because she was told to for her career
Kate Winslet is now considered one of Hollywood's most beautiful stars. However, there was a time early in her career when leaders in the entertainment industry took issue with her appearance. As she explained to NPR, when she was young, she was a lot heavier. In fact, kids in her school bullied her and called her "blubber." "I had kids lock me in a cupboard and say blubber's blubbing in the cupboard," she said.
When she decided to become an actress, she was told she was "too fat" and that she needed to lose weight to succeed. "And look; I did it," she said, explaining that she had been so determined to become an actress, she did what they asked. "I was even told by an agent when I was much younger that I was only ever going to get the fat girl parts," she recalled.
Even after she lost weight, her appearance was picked apart by the press. "I was subjected to such, really, truly, unkind, painful, public ridiculing for how I looked," she explained. Luckily, Winslet managed to push these comments aside and focus on making great films.
Kate Winslet took this souvenir from the set of Titanic
"Titanic" has to be one of Kate Winslet's best-loved films. As fans of the movie probably remember, Winslet's character keeps a priceless necklace for years before tossing it into the ocean at the end. Funnily enough, Winslet also kept a secret piece of jewelry. However, it wasn't the necklace. She told The New York Times, "I did take a pair of Rose's earrings, but somewhere I lost one." So while Winslet probably wouldn't have gotten away with stealing the famous necklace, at least she did get away with stealing some other jewelry.
Plus, Winslet said, other cast members were much worse than she was when it came to stealing props from the set. "People stole the White Star Line cups and saucers," she said. "I was good." We definitely would have tried to grab everything we could get our hands on — it sounds like Winslet was pretty well behaved!
Has Kate Winslet ever had feelings for Leonardo DiCaprio?
Back in the '90s, "Kate and Leo" became one of the most famous Hollywood duos after Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio played star-crossed lovers in "Titanic." The pair then joined forces again for "Revolutionary Road" in 2008, in which they played a married couple with a struggling relationship. The pair have never dated, but they are super close friends. Winslet told Glamour, "We're very, very close and sometimes we do quote the odd 'Titanic' line back and forth to each [other], because only we can, and we find it really funny." We honestly cannot think of anything cuter.
Even though the pair clearly have buckets of on and off-screen chemistry, their spark in real life has never been a romantic one. As Winslet explained to "Lorraine," "Luckily, and this is the fortunate thing, we never fancied each other." This meant that the pair could always have a solid platonic relationship. How adorable.
She learned this impressive skill for Avatar 2
In 2017, Deadline reported that Kate Winslet would star in the "Avatar" sequel, due out in 2022. And as the actress explained to "Lorraine," she had to learn a special skill for her role — breath-holding. "I play a reef person so I spent most of my time in the water and it has been widely talked about, I believe, that I learned how to breath-hold and held my breath for 7 minutes, which is completely true and I'm very proud of that," she said. Wow, that isn't just impressive — that's almost superhuman!
Winslet went on to explain that learning odd skills like this is always one of the joys of the job. "The things I find myself learning and doing and experiencing and the people I get to meet, I never tire of it," she said.
As Winslet explained to The Guardian, breath-holding is certainly not easy. In fact, her husband who trained with her once blacked out. And, after Winslet's seven-minute long breath-holding experience, Winslet's first words were, "Am I dead?"
Kate Winslet got hypothermia after filming this famous scene in Titanic
One of Kate Winslet's most famous scenes of all time comes at the end of "Titanic," when she (very controversially) is the only one who can fit on a floating door, while Leonardo DiCaprio's character stays in the freezing water and (spoiler alert!) dies. Apparently, the water was actually very, very cold during the filming of the scene.
As Winslet revealed to Stephen Colbert on "The Late Show," she ended up getting hypothermia while filming. "You were really cold?" Colbert asked. "Yeah, I was really f***ing cold," an indignant Winslet retorted. Apparently, the film crew had set up numerous huge tanks of water to film in, and they simply couldn't keep all of these tanks warm.
According to The Sun, Winslet was actually colder than she needed to be, as she turned down the wetsuit that was offered to her by the director. Sounds like this was one time when Winslet took suffering for her art a little too far.
Kate Winslet's daughter is also an actress
Kate Winslet's daughter, Mia Threapleton, is actually also an actress. However, when she started out, she was very careful to keep her famous mother a secret. As Winslet explained on "Lorraine," this was to avoid being accused of nepotism. One of Threapleton's first projects was an indie film. "What's been really great for her is that she has a different surname, so that initial job right out of the gate, she slipped right under the radar and the people who cast her had absolutely no idea that she was my daughter," said Winslet.
Of course, now everyone knows that Threapleton is Winslet's daughter. And it seems that the young actress has a bright future ahead of her. After appearing in "Shadows" in 2020, she went on to land a role in the new mini-series of "Dangerous Liaisons," alongside Maria Friedman, Paloma Faith, and Lesley Manville (via IMDb).
She once directed her own intimate scene
Many actors eventually get into some behind-the-camera work. For Kate Winslet, her first directorial experience happened by accident. While she was filming "The Mountain Between Us" alongside Idris Elba, she ended up directing her own sex scene. As the actress explained on "The Graham Norton Show," she arrived at the set for the scene and quickly realized that the director and her co-star didn't really have enough experience to get the scene done. "I'm afraid I had to get quite bossy," she said, explaining that she had had quite a bit of experience with this type of scene.
Apparently, the plan for the day was far too complicated. There was a plan to do over 20 shots and the director admitted to being pretty "nervous." So, Winslet jumped into the driver's seat and told the crew where to put the camera and helped Elba choreograph the scene. It seems like they were pretty lucky that Winslet took charge or that scene might never have been made!
Kate Winslet spent lockdown with her family relaxing and getting domestic
Many of us had to hunker down with family members or friends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kate Winslet spent her lockdown with a whole lot of family. Along with her children and husband, Winslet also welcomed her father into her home, as her mother had died in 2017.
For Winslet, spending time at home with her extended family meant rediscovering some of the joys of domesticity. As she told The Guardian, she became "obsessed with sweeping the kitchen floor." In fact, she began to obsess about why no one else in the family was doing it, too.
The lockdown also meant Winslet got some much-needed me-time. At first, it wasn't easy. "I had to teach myself how to relax," she told Grazia. "As a mum, I find I'm constantly juggling things for other people and suddenly there was time to do something for myself." Eventually, Winslet got used to unwinding and let herself take some real time off with her family.
Kate Winslet is dedicated to aging naturally
In a famously ageist, sexist industry, Winslet is completely dedicated to aging naturally and being open about her age. As she told Allure, Winslet had no desire to alter her appearance, even though the signs of aging were beginning to show. "I'm just going easy on myself," she said. "I'm at an age now where things are changing all the time. The skin on my neck is really different now, the skin on the back of my hands needs some serious TLC."
In fact, as Winslet told The Telegraph, she and fellow actresses Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz formed what they called an "Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League" (via The Guardian). "I will never give in. [Cosmetic surgery] goes against my morals, the way that my parents brought me up and what I consider to be natural beauty," she explained. While it can't be easy, we think that what Winslet and her friends are doing is setting an amazing example for young women and older women alike.