Kate Winslet has described the “horrific” press intrusion she faced after rising to fame as Rose in James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic. The 50-year-old actress told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that she was followed by paparazzi, had her phone tapped, and that people searched through her bins to “try and figure out what diet I was on or wasn’t on”.
“It was horrific. There were people tapping my phone. They were just everywhere. And I was just on my own. I was terrified to go to sleep,” she said. Winslet recalled seeing herself on magazine covers accompanied by “awful, terrible, actually abusive names”. She coped with the attention through “a good meal, a shared conversation, a nice cup of coffee, a bit of Radiohead and a good poo”.
The star faced further intrusion during her divorce from film director Sam Mendes in 2010. “I was being followed by paparazzi in New York City with my two small kids, who wanted to, of course, know the reason why Sam and I had split up,” she said. She managed by keeping her “mouth closed”, putting her head down, and leaning on friends.
Winslet also opened up about body image struggles, recalling negative comments from a drama teacher who told her she would have to “settle for the fat girl parts”, and being nicknamed “blubber” at primary school. She said she was “on and off” dieting from ages 15 to 19, “barely eating”, which was “really unhealthy”.
After Titanic, Winslet saw magazine images of herself that had been edited without her knowledge. “I don't look like this. My stomach isn't flat like that. My legs are not that long, my boobs are not that big. What? My arms aren't that toned. What the hell?” she recalled. Earlier this month, she called on fellow actors to keep their looks natural, criticising the obsession with perfection driven by social media.
