It really sunk her spirits.
Kate Winslet revealed that her rise to stardom following the immediate success of James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic” made her feel, well, “horrible.”
“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, 48, told Porter magazine for their cover story.
“Journalists would always say, ‘After “Titanic,” you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things,’ ” Winslet continued. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your f – – kin’ life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.’ “
“I was grateful, of course,” added the “Mare of Easttown” star. “I was in my early 20s, and I was able to get a flat. But I didn’t want to be followed literally feeding the ducks.”
Despite hating the fame that came along with starring in the 11-time Oscar-winning film alongside now-best friend Leonardo DiCaprio, Winslet revealed that her current level of notoriety is “not a burden.”
“[‘Titanic‘] continues to bring people huge amounts of joy,” continued the Academy Award-winning actress. “The only time I am like, ‘Oh God, hide,’ is if we are on a boat somewhere.”
This is not the first time that the “Divergent” star has opened up about her dislike of all the attention she received after the film’s success.
In 2021, she appeared on an episode of the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” where she revealed that she went “into self-protective mode right away,” after claiming that she felt “bullied” by several UK tabloids.
“It was like night and day from one day to the next,” she recalled. “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,” the “Holiday” star 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.”
Recently, Winslet noted that the early onslaught of being ridiculed by the press made her less concerned with beauty standards.
“I think it probably stems from having been subjected to the most awful scrutiny and judgment, and, actually, I would go so far as to say bullying, from mainstream media when I was in my 20s,” she told Vogue in 2023.
“I know better than to waste precious energy on criticizing my physical self,” she told the outlet. “I think any woman is better off just saying: I believe in myself. It doesn’t matter what other people think; this is who I am — let’s get on with it.”