Melanie Lynskey Speaks on Losing Her Friendship With Kate Winslet: ‘It Was So Painful’

Melanie Lynskey shared a glimpse at a private struggle during a recent podcast interview, and it concerned her faded friendship with Kate Winslet. Lynskey and Winslet starred in Peter Jackson’s 1994 true crime movie Heavenly Creatures together. Lynskey was 17 at the time of the movie’s release, and Winslet was 19. The young actresses became very close during the process of filming the movie, becoming friends. However, that friendship began to fray when Winslet’s status in the entertainment industry grew due to her roles in movies like Sense and Sensibility, Titanic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

However, there wasn’t a falling out or anything either actress did to damage the relationship. With Winslet so busy, it was just difficult for the two to remain in contact. As Lynskey said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (per The Hollywood Reporter), the situation was hard for her to come to terms with.

“It was so painful because it wasn’t like anything happened, it’s just she (Kate) became a gigantic international movie star and she didn’t have a lot of time,” the Yellowjackets and Two and a Half Men actress told host Josh Horowitz. “I wouldn’t hear from her, you know, and it just sort of like gradually happened, and it happens in relationships. People kind of drift apart, but it was so painful for me.”

Despite the two’s friendship not being what it once was, Lynskey still has a great but of admiration for Winslet as an actress and as a person.

“She’s like a very, very confident person but … she’s very sensitive and the way she was dissected and talked about, and I remember at the time just being so furious on her behalf,” Lynskey said, referring to public scrutiny about her friend’s body image. “Like Kate Winslet is in the world, Kate Winslet is doing movies and you’re getting to witness that talent. … This is an actor that comes along once in a generation, just focus on that.”

Lynskey’s full remarks can be heard on Happy Sad Confused. She is currently starring on the SHOWTIME hit Yellowjackets, which can be streamed on Paramount+. Fresh off Avatar: The Way of Water, Winslet will soon be seen in HBO’s upcoming show The Regime.