Kate Winslet Speaks out on Long-Rumored ‘Titanic’ Feud With Director James Cameron

It was long rumored that Titanic star Kate Winslet and director James Cameron were engaged in a feud during filming. The rumors stemmed from some comments that the Academy Award-winning actress made in the press about how difficult it was to film Titanic. Now, they’re setting the record straight.

“There was never a rift between us,” Cameron recently told Variety in an interview for the outlet’s feature on Winslet and her new HBO series, The Regime. “She had a little postpartum depression when she let go of Rose. She and I have talked about the fact that she goes really, really deep, and her characters leave a lasting, sometimes dramatic impression on her.”

“There’s a part of me that feels almost sad that stupid, speculative Titanic stuff at the time overshadowed the actual relationship I have with him,” Winslet added. “He knows I will be up for anything. Any challenge, any piece of direction you give me? I’ll try it.”

Titanic was written and directed by James Cameron and released in 1997. In it, Winslet starred as Rose DeWitt Bukater, an affluent woman betrothed to a man she doesn’t love, when life takes a drastic turn upon meeting Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a traveling artist. She falls madly in love with Jack, though the fate of their romance is tied directly to that of the famous ocean liner of which they are both passengers.

To say that Titanic is one of the most popular and acclaimed films of all time is almost still an understatement. Its box office revenue sits at over $2 billion, and it won all but three of the 14 Academy Awards it was nominated for in 1998. Notably, Winslet was one of the losses, as she was nominated in the Best Actress category. It wasn’t until more than 10 years later that she finally picked up an Oscar, for the romantic drama The Reader.