Bullying from the press after Titanic‘s 1997 release almost made Kate Winslet reconsider her acting career!
On January 14, the prolific actress spoke with stand-up comedian Marc Maron on the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Winslet, who has been promoting her latest film, Ammonite, dived into great detail about negativity from the press early on in her career — and why she wanted to shy away from the level of fame she instantly achieved.
During their conversation, she admitted:
“I think I went into self-protective mode right away. It was cars and cars of British photographers who were photographing me going and buying a pint of milk and a newspaper. That was just weird. It was like night and day from one day to the next.”
Ugh! We’ve definitely seen what insta-fame can do to a person, especially someone so young. At the time, the Contagion star was only 22 years old! And, apparently, the media had all kinds of terrible remarks about her body, too. The 45-year-old went on to say:
“The British press were actually quite unkind to me. I felt quite bullied, if I’m honest. I remember just thinking, ‘OK, 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.”
Wow!! What makes this even crazier is that Winslet admitted not having much experience with acting back when she performed in Titanic. Here she was, trying to get better at the craft, but the news outlets really interfered with her daily life. She added:
“I was still learning how to act. I’d only been doing it since I was 17. And so I still felt like I wasn’t really ready to do lots of big Hollywood jobs. It was a huge responsibility. I didn’t want to make mistakes. I didn’t want to blow it. I wanted to be in it for the long game.”
It was at this point that Winslet decided she wanted to take a step back. She discovered smaller projects that would not only help her polish her skills — but films that would also allow her to keep a lower profile. We totally remember Kate sort of disappearing from the spotlight directly after Titanic, so it ALL makes sense now! And we get it. Developing as an artist means so much more than taking jobs for the fame! So, sounds like the actress really made the perfect choice!
Related: Kate Recalls Anxiety Hosting SNL Week After Ashlee Simpson Snafu
That didn’t make the press coverage any easier. Even though people started to give her some privacy once more, the Grammy winner revealed the importance of being a mother and how that helped her come to terms with the fame. She told Marc:
“I had my daughter when I was 25 and all of that stuff kind of evaporated a bit, in terms of feeling watched and whether I cared about it. That all just kind of went away. My focus was my child and that was all that mattered.”
A mother’s love!
Winslet, who is a mother of three — Mia, 20; Joe, 17; Bear, 7 — clearly loves her kids and recognizes there are far greater things than listening to what superficial press coverage say about a person. Fortunately for her, she seems to be living her best life. As for her acting craft, we personally think she’s getting better and better with each film — ESPECIALLY given her latest performance in Ammonite.
What do you think of all the bullying, Perezious readers?! Should Kate have expected it? Or was it totally understandable to be caught off guard like that?
[Image via Drew Altizer/WENN]
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