Kate Winslet Once Chose Small Roles in Films Because Her Ex-Husband Didn’t Want Her to Be Famous
Kate Winslet is often drawn to a wide variety of roles. But earlier in the actor’s career, Winslet found herself gravitating towards smaller parts in films. If only because her husband at the time didn’t want her to be too big of a star.
Kate Winslet thought she wanted to be with her first husband because he was a regular guy
Winslet met her first husband on the set of her 1998 drama Hideous Kinky. Jim Threapleton worked as an assistant director on the feature, and quickly hit it off with the Oscar winner. Threapleton and Winslet would marry in 1998, and share a daughter in Mia Threapleton. Their marriage would last a couple of years before the two would officially part ways in 2001.
Winslet has always kept her relationships very private, so she’d never divulged the source of her divorce from Threapleton. But in a 2006 interview with Parade (via CBS), she opened up about a relationship she had before she met Threapleton. She met Stephen Tredre at age 15, who quickly became the love of her life.
“Stephen made me feel secure and embraced,” she said. “He was the most important person in my life, next to my family.”
Tredre would later die from bone cancer when Titanic would first hit theaters worldwide. Titanic later brought Winslet an overwhelming amount of fame and attention. So when she met Threapleton, Winslet may have started a relationship with the filmmaker while in a particularly vulnerable state.
“I thought I wanted to be with him,” she said. “I was dealing with the pain of having lost Stephen and Titanic coming out. Jim was just a regular guy, and that had a big impact on me.”
Kate Winslet only chose small roles in films because Jim Threapleton didn’t want her to become famous
Winslet confided that her relationship with Threapleton began to have an adverse influence on her film career and personal life. In an old interview with Index, the Emmy winner offered a bit more insight into why her marriage with the filmmaker didn’t last.
“My relationship with Mia’s dad was a mess. In the last year and half of our marriage, I became a completely different person. I was isolated from my family and my friends,” she said.
She found herself gravitating towards darker films and taking on smaller parts. Threapleton was at the heart of these decisions.
“I started looking for supporting roles, because Jim didn’t want me to be famous. He would read a script that I loved and immediately kill my passion for it by saying it wasn’t good enough for me. That was the only time in my life that I’ve ever lost control of my instincts,” she said.
Kate Winslet is proud that no one knows why her marriage with Jim Threapleton didn’t work out
Winslet was once well aware of the interest in her relationship situation. Thanks to her star-power, her marriages have been the focus of more than a few tabloids. But Winslet has been successful at keeping her marital issues to herself, which she finds great pride in.
“No one really knows what has happened in my life. No one really knows why my first marriage didn’t last; no one knows why my second didn’t. And I’m proud of those silences,” Winslet once told WSJ.
