Kate Winslet Explains Why Post-‘Titanic’ Fame Was ‘Unpleasant’

Kate Winslet has opened up about her life after starring in Titanic, and she explained that the fame she experienced post-film was “unpleasant.” Speaking to Porter, the 48-year-old said, “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.”

The Oscar-winning actress went on to share, “Journalists would always say, ‘After , you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things’… and I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your f—in’ life I did!’ Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.” Winslet continued, “I was grateful, of course. 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.”

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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 greatest films of all time is almost still an understatement. Its 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 romance-drama film The Reader.