In a candid new interview, Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet has shared a deeply personal revelation about her formative years, disclosing that her first intimate experiences as a teenager were with other young women.
A Personal Revelation on Podcast
The 50-year-old British star, famed for roles in Titanic and The Reader, made the admission during a conversation on the Team Deakins podcast with hosts Roger and James Deakins. With her trademark honesty, Winslet told them: "I'll share something I've never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls. I'd kissed a few girls, and I'd kissed a few boys, but I wasn't particularly evolved in either direction."
She explained that at that stage in her life, she was "certainly was curious". The actress linked this period of exploration directly to her understanding of the intense bond at the heart of her 1994 breakthrough film, Heavenly Creatures.
Connection to Breakthrough Film Role
In Heavenly Creatures, Winslet starred opposite Melanie Lynskey in a story centred on two teenage girls whose intense friendship spirals into a dangerously obsessive bond. The film, directed by Peter Jackson, first brought the actress critical acclaim.
"I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood," Winslet reflected. "I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in that obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them, and they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities."
History of Candidness on Body Image and Industry Pressures
This is not the first time Kate Winslet has spoken openly about her youth and the challenges she faced. Earlier in December, during an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, she revealed how a damaging comment from a drama teacher about her weight shaped her early self-perception.
The star, who is married to Edward Abel Smith, recalled being told she could have a career "if you're happy to settle for the fat girl parts". She admitted the words landed hard, saying: "I didn't aspire to play leading roles ever. I was just Kate from Reading. I didn't get film scripts." She added a defiant note many will recognise: "Look at me now."
Winslet, now 49, also spoke candidly about struggling with her body image throughout her teenage years. From the ages of 15 to 19, she was "on and off diets", admitting that by the end she was barely eating. "It wasn't healthy," she said. "I'd wake up panicking about whether I looked fat. It's the only thing in my life I really regret."
Furthermore, the actress has previously used her platform to highlight pressures within the film industry. In an interview with The Sunday Times four years ago, she stated that some actors remain "terrified" to publicly reveal their sexuality for fear it would harm their careers.
"I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know – some well known, some starting out – who are terrified their sexuality will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast in straight roles," she said. "I can think of at least four actors absolutely hiding their sexuality. It's painful. Because they fear being found out."
