Kate Winslet has opened up about her first intimate experiences with women.
Before becoming one of the most acclaimed actresses in film and TV, the Lee star earned her big break in Peter Jackson’s LGBTQIA+ drama Heavenly Creatures.
Based on the 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case, the film follows the story of Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet (Winslet), two teenage girls who strike an intense friendship that ultimately leads to the murder of the latter’s mother.
Upon its release, Heavenly Creatures received universal acclaim, with many critics praising the movie’s direction, screenplay, and Winslet and Lynskey’s riveting performances.
In a recent interview on the Team Deakins podcast, the Oscar-winning talent reflected on her experience making the classic movie, including the real-life experiences she brought to the role.
“I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls,” she revealed.
“I kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction.”
Winslet went on to say that she was “certainly curious” at that stage in her life, adding: “I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood.
“I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in that obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them, and they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities.”
Since starring in Heavenly Creatures, Winslet has built an expansive, highly successful career in film and TV, earning acclaim for standout roles in Titanic, Sense and Sensibility, Finding Neverland, The Holiday, I Am Ruth, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Reader, and the sapphic romance drama Ammonite.
The 50-year-old talent has also earned a reputation as a staunch LGBTQIA+ ally.
In 2021, Winslet addressed the stigma surrounding queer actors during an interview with The Sunday Times.
“I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know – some well known, some starting out – who are terrified their sexuality will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast in straight roles,” she said.
Although the entertainment industry has slowly increased its LGBTQIA+ representation, the same cannot be said for LGBTQIA+ actors being cast in diverse roles.
“I’m telling you. A well-known actor has just got an American agent, and the agent said, ‘I understand you are bisexual. I wouldn’t publicise that,’” she elaborated.
“I can think of at least four actors absolutely hiding their sexuality. It’s painful. Because they fear being found out. And that’s what they say. ‘I don’t want to be found out.’”
The Holiday actress also noted that the stigma mostly applies to male actors.
“It’s bad news. Hollywood has to drop that dated crap of, ‘Can he play straight because, apparently, he’s gay?’” she exclaimed.
In a separate 2021 interview with Harper’s BAZAAR UK, Winslet expressed her hope that her queer film Ammonite, which also starred Saoirse Ronan, would help usher more queer films into the mainstream.
“There needs to be more LGBTQ+ films so that we don’t feel the compulsion to compare the few that do exist, it’s totally mad,” she said.
You can listen to Winslet’s full interview here.
