Kate Winslet reveals terrifying impact of media intrusion

Kate Winslet has spoken about how she coped with “horrific” press intrusion after rising to fame as Rose in James Cameron's 1997 classic movie Titanic. The Holiday actor, 50, said 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 told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

Winslet, who has just released her directorial debut Goodbye June, said that after Titanic was released, she saw herself on the cover of newspapers and magazines, often accompanied by what she described as “awful, terrible, actually abusive names”. She said she dealt with media attention with “a good meal, a shared conversation, a nice cup of coffee, a bit of Radiohead.”

“You know, life’s all the better for those things,” she said. She experienced further intrusion years later during her divorce from her second husband, 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. On how she managed that period, she said: “You just keep your mouth closed, you put your head down, and you keep walking. And you try and put your hands over your children’s ears. You lean on your friends, you just keep going.” Winslet credited her friends for their support, especially a neighbouring couple who would leave her a “bowl of steaming pasta” on the garden wall between their homes.

While filming Titanic in her early twenties, Winslet said she experienced difficulty with her body image, and wasn’t prepared for her body to be in the public eye. She recalled the negative comments she received from a drama teacher who told her she would have to “settle for the fat girl parts”, and shared that she was nicknamed “blubber” at primary school as a child. From the ages of 15 to 19, she said she was “on and off” dieting, “barely eating”. “It was really unhealthy,” she said.

Reflecting on her depiction in the media after the release of Titanic, Winslet described how magazine cover images of her were edited without her knowledge, which she spoke about earlier in the 2000s. Winslet recalled seeing the edited images and thinking: “I don't look like this. My stomach isn't flat like that. My legs are not that long. What? My arms aren't that toned. What the hell?”

Earlier this month, the actor called on her famous peers to keep their looks natural amid the rise of non-surgical cosmetic procedures and weight-loss drugs. “No one’s listening because they’ve become obsessed with chasing an idea of perfection to get more likes on Instagram. It upsets me so much,” she told The Sunday Times in an interview.

“It is devastating. If a person’s self-esteem is so bound up in how they look, it’s frightening,” she continued.

Kate Winslet has described how she "desperately tried to recast" herself after learning she could also direct Goodbye June, in addition to producing and starring in it. Written by Winslet's 21-year-old son Joe Anders, Goodbye June is about four adult children who reunite in response to the failing health of their mother during Christmastime. Winslet opened up about why she ended up also starring in her directorial debut, even though she believed she "cannot do three jobs".

"I know I'm good at multitasking, but this is too many things. I desperately tried to recast myself (and) had a really good list of a handful of people who would have been absolutely brilliant in that role," the Mare of Easttown star told Digital Spy.

The Independent