‘Titanic’ star Kate Winslet says ‘being famous was horrible’

Fame is not for the faint of heart. Actress Kate Winslet should know.

Since garnering massive attention for the 1997 film "Titanic," where she starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Winslet has been a fixture in Hollywood for decades.

Winslet, who was just 22 years old when the film was released, said her life was significantly altered and became "quite unpleasant" as she struggled with her appearance and being followed. 

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In a new interview with PORTER, Winslet, now 48, recognizes things are different now. She said the industry and its expectations have changed, which is great for her daughter, Mia Threapleton, an up-and-coming actress.

"It’s different now. Mia is very much her own person. [Young women now] know how to use their voice," she explained. "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." 

"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 f---in' life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.’"

"I was grateful, of course. I was in my early twenties, and I was able to get a flat. But I didn’t want to be followed literally feeding the ducks," she claimed.

This is not the first time Winslet has spoken about the ramifications of being in the blockbuster film. In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Winslet said she was "scared of Hollywood" at the time. "A big, scary place where everyone had to be thin and look a certain way. And I knew that I did not look that way or feel like I fit there, so if I was ever going to belong, I had to earn my place. And to me, I hadn’t earned it," she said of the time.

However, Winslet has adjusted, willingly or not, to fame, a word she calls "ridiculous."

"I wear [fame] really lightly. It’s not a burden, any of it. ['Titanic'] continues to bring people huge amounts of joy. The only time I am like, ‘Oh god, hide’, is if we are on a boat somewhere," she joked.