I Feel Stronger, Fitter And More Comfortable In My Own Skin

Two decades after Titanic, Kate Winslet is still winning Hollywood over with her supreme confidence, womanly wit and wisdom

- Lily Lawson

Twenty years since they declared their undying love for each other, so many of us are still wishing Titanic’s Rose held on that little longer to poor Jack. And some ardent fans even go so far as to accost Kate Winslet about it.

“I’ll be confronted,” she titters. “‘If only you’d held on longer,’ they’ll say. There’s a lot of people who wish that Jack and Rose had somehow made it out alive together.”

Two decades since a lead turn in James Cameron’s billion-dollar epic turned her into a household name, Kate, 42, remains humble and enthusiastic and always grateful. While her peers baulk at the repeated mention of a starmaking role, the British star soaks up the praise, knowing full well just how important a film it is to multitudes of fans around the world.

And today is no different. Stunning in a red, puff-sleeved shirt and brown pencil skirt, with her hair in a loose pony, highlighting her lupine blue eyes, Kate is present and charming and responsive. It’s like sitting and chatting with an old friend.

First off, she brushes off any suggestion that she is aristocratic, like her Titanic character Rose. “People assume, because I have this posh intonation, that I grew up with a silver spoon squarely in my mouth, and that couldn’t be further from the case.

“We never had any money growing up,” she continues. “My parents were raising a big family and it was a struggle but it gave us a sense of practicality and reality, we weren’t shielded from financial struggle.

“I had to scrimp for every penny I could make to get to London for an audition. I was working at deli counters, slicing up meat, counting pennies. I like to think because of that drive to do what I had to, it fuels that fire within, and douses any complacency. A lot of actors share that mentality, too.”