'My life was quite unpleasant': Kate Winslet opens up on the discomfort she felt about her fame after 'Titanic' release
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kate Winslet has opened up on the problems she had to face after she skyrocketed to popularity after the release of James Cameron's 1997 romance-tragedy epic 'Titanic.'
"I felt like I 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," Winslet admitted to PORTER for the magazine's latest cover story.
She added, "Journalists would always say, ‘After 'Titanic', you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things’ … and I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.'"
Kate Winslet says 'it's not a burden' despite the displeasure she felt
"It's not a burden, any of it," the Academy Award winner said despite the unpleasant aspects.
"['Titanic'] continues to bring people huge amounts of joy," she continued, joking, "The only time I am like, ‘Oh God, hide,' is if we are on a boat somewhere.”
Kate Winslet previously spoke of her fame following 'Titanic'
During a 2021 episode of the 'WTF with Marc Maron' podcast, Winslet recalled going "into self-protective mode right away" after her breakout co-lead role in the blockbuster, because she felt "bullied" by the UK media.
"It was like night and day from one day to the next," she said of her sudden fame, adding "Also, I was subject to quite a lot of also personal physical scrutiny, and criticized quite a lot — the British press were actually quite unkind to me."
"I felt quite bullied, if I'm honest," Winslet continued. "I remember just thinking, 'Okay, well, this is horrible and I hope it passes.' And it did definitely pass but it also made me realize that if that's what being famous was, I was not ready to be famous, thank you. No, definitely not," she added.
Kate Winslet reflected on working with onscreen love interest Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of 'Titanic'
"Once I started working with Leo, we were able to kind of find our own rhythm. And it's amazing to kind of look back and think about it all over again," she told Entertainment Tonight, ahead of the re-release of the film in 4K Ultra HD.
"He was this kind of mess of long, skinny, uncoordinated limbs. And he was just very free with himself, and he had this effervescent energy that was really magnetic," she continued. "And I remember thinking, 'Oh, this is gonna be fun. We're definitely gonna get along.' And we just really did. We just really did," Winslet added.
