Kate Winslet Explains Why ‘Being Famous Was Horrible’ After Titanic Release: ‘My Life Was Quite Unpleasant’

For all the notoriety Titanic brought Kate Winslet, there are parts of it she could have done without.

The Regime star, 48, opened up to PORTER for the magazine’s latest cover story, recalling the discomfort she felt about her fame after the release of James Cameron’s 1997 romance-tragedy epic.

“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,” Winslet admitted.

She added, “Journalists would always say, ‘After Titanic, you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things’ … and I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.’ “

Despite the unpleasant aspects, “It’s not a burden, any of it,” said the Academy Award winner.

“[Titanic] continues to bring people huge amounts of joy,” she continued, joking, “The only time I am like, ‘Oh God, hide,’ is if we are on a boat somewhere.”

It’s not the first time Winslet has talked about her fame following Titanic. During a 2021 episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, she recalled going “into self-protective mode right away” after her breakout co-lead role in the blockbuster, because she felt “bullied” by the U.K. media.

“It was like night and day from one day to the next,” she said of her sudden fame. “Also, I was subject to quite a lot of also personal physical scrutiny, and criticized quite a lot — the British press were actually quite unkind to me.”

“I felt quite bullied, if I’m honest,” Winslet continued. “I remember just thinking, ‘Okay, well, this is horrible and I hope it passes.’ And it did definitely pass but it also made me realize that if that’s what being famous was, I was not ready to be famous, thank you. No, definitely not.”

More recently, Winslet reflected on working with onscreen love interest Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Titanic. (The two would go on to remain close friends over the years.)

“Once I started working with Leo, we were able to kind of find our own rhythm. And it’s amazing to kind of look back and think about it all over again,” she told Entertainment Tonight, ahead of the re-release of the film in 4K Ultra HD.

“He was this kind of mess of long, skinny, uncoordinated limbs. And he was just very free with himself, and he had this effervescent energy that was really magnetic,” she continued. “And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this is gonna be fun. We’re definitely gonna get along.’ “

“And we just really did. We just really did,” Winslet added.