What Happened To Kate Winslet After Titanic Is Heartbreaking & Gross

Movies Romance Movies

James Cameron's Oscar-winning historical epic "Titanic" made Kate Winslet into an internationally known superstar, but it also came with some really gross, unacceptable comments about her body type — and Winslet recently revealed it was extremely hard for her to endure that body shaming.

In an interview with Variety ahead of the Emmy nominations in July — where Winslet may well score a nomination for her utterly weird, perfectly performed lead role in the HBO political satire "The Regime" — Winslet admitted that, after starring in "Titanic," she fielded frequent criticisms of her body (as her interviewer Daniel D'Addario correctly points out, the perceived "beauty standard" at the time was bone-thin). "I actually felt a bit beaten up by it, truth be told," Winslet said to D'Addario, also revealing that she found it hard to open up to her family about the price of fame. "I had a lovely family, but all my family saw is 'My God, Kate's got work in a really big film.' One doesn't want to turn around to your mum and dad and say, 'It's really hard, actually.'"

D'Addario also notes that he spoke to Winslet after this year's Met Gala, and the actress told him she was perusing photos of her fellow Hollywood stars in their couture — and felt heartened. "I really was smiling, because every single image of the women on the red carpet, every woman is sharing their body in the way they want to, on their terms," Winslet said. "And knowing they can do that safely, because the media is not going to criticize them. And that is completely different from the way it used to be in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 ... This sh** went on for years."

Kate Winslet fought hard to get cast in Titanic — and despite cruel comments, she shines in the film

Before getting her role in "Titanic," Kate Winslet apparently was quite aggressive in her campaign to book the part of Rose Dewitt Bukater; as director James Cameron told Variety in the same piece, "She even sent me a single rose and said, 'I have to be your Rose.'" The Oscar-winner also weighed in on the criticism Winslet faced over her physique, unequivocally condemning it. "The admiration is one thing, but the trolling is another thing," Cameron told the outlet. "People body-shaming her, dissing her. It was right at the advent of the internet coming into its own."

The pair also both addressed long-standing rumors that, after working on "Titanic" together, Winslet made comments about the film and its notoriously difficult shooting process. "There was never a rift between us," Cameron now says. "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."

Winslet agrees, and says that she and the world-famous director are on great terms: "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. He knows I will be up for anything. Any challenge, any piece of direction you give me? I'll try it." To that point, Winslet is now a part of Cameron's "Avatar" franchise; as Cameron put it in the article, "I'm in the cutting room now and I work with her performance every day."

Nowadays, Kate Winslet is one of the most awarded and acclaimed actresses in Hollywood

Let's be perfectly clear about one thing: it is horrendous and absolutely unacceptable that Kate Winslet had to endure nasty, bad-faith comments about her appearance after having the audacity to star in one of the biggest movies of all time. Luckily for the world at large, Winslet took her newfound fame and became one of the industry's most fascinating and introspective performers. "Titanic" earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress — her second after one for best supporting actress in the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's "Sense & Sensibility" — and three more nominations followed before Winslet finally won the award for 2008's Holocaust drama "The Reader" (those nods were for "Iris," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and "Little Children").

Beyond her Academy Award, Winslet has also won two Emmys — for her performances in 2011's "Mildred Pierce" and 2021's "Mare of Easttown," both of which were on HBO — as well as a handful of Golden Globes. (Incidentally, she also won a Grammy for the children's spoken word album "Listen to the Storyteller" in 1999; for those interested in this sort of thing, that means Winslet only needs a Tony to complete an EGOT.) Throughout her career, Winslet has been consistently praised for her thoughtful performances, her boldness as an actor, and her willingness to try just about any project or character archetype — so luckily, the cruel naysayers from the late 1990s didn't stop her from doing what she loves.