Kate Winslet Received a Free Ticket to Space Thanks to Her Husband
As a celebrity, there aren’t many things on Earth that actor Kate Winslet doesn’t have access to. The Mare of Easttown star is reportedly worth $65 million, which would be enough by most accounts to afford the finest things in life. But for Winslet, if Earth isn’t enough for her, she was given a ticket to travel the stars in space. And although most would have to cough up a hefty sum for the trip, Winslet managed to get her ticket for free.
Who is Kate Winslet’s husband?
Kate Winslet is currently married to Edward Abel Smith, the nephew of the British business mogul Richard Branson. The two met each other while she and her daughter took a vacation to Necker Island, a private island owned by Branson. Branson’s nephew was on the island at the time as well. However, Winslet’s vacation turned into a potentially dangerous ordeal when disaster struck.
“I met my husband in a house fire,” Winslet told ET. “He was the only dude to have a head torch and a pair of shoes, everyone else left everything behind. I took a bra and passports and my children.”
The two have been an item since that fateful day. Smith would go on to eventually propose to Winslet in December of 2012, with the two having gotten married that same month.
How Kate Winslet got her free ticket to space
Being the niece-in-law of Richard Branson certainly has its advantages. One of those advantages happens to be getting a free ticket into space. Branson, who’s the owner of the multinational conglomerate Virgin group, found the American spaceflight company Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic will be offering spacetravels to regular passengers sometime in 2022, where their customers will board a flight that travels into Earth’s low orbit.
According to ABCNews, tickets are priced at $200,000, and 530 of them have already been sold. Ashton Kutcher and Russell Brand are two famous names that will be boarding the flight. Stephen Hawking was scheduled to go as well before his untimely death. Thanks to Winslet’s connections to the Branson family, she was offered the ticket as a gift.
But it seems that Winslet might have rejected Branson’s present. In a 2015 interview with Esquire, Winslet revealed that she has no intentions of going into space.
“I’m not remotely against people going into space, but I don’t want to go there. Nope. I’m quite happy down here. Being in an aeroplane is challenging enough,” Winslet said.
Why Kate Winslet convinced her husband to change his name
Traditional marriages sometimes constitute the change of the wife’s last name. But in this instance, Winslet was the one who convinced Smith to change his. Her husband went by the name Ned Rocknroll before and during their relationship.
“His birth name is Abel Smith. And as time went by and Ned became Ned – who is quite an original personality – he just decided at one point in his life to just change his name to Rocknroll,” Winslet revealed according to Uproxx.
She later went on to add, “When he changed his name to Rocknroll, I don’t think he had anticipated what might happen if he should have a girlfriend whose name was Kate Winslet and who was quite well-known and therefore the press might kind of not react so well to the fact that she had this boyfriend called then Rocknroll. So, it was a little tricky.”
For Winslet, it soon became too much.
“I got to the point where I’m like, you know, I’m filling in doctors’ forms,” Winslet said. “and it says ‘mother’s name’ and ‘father’s name’, and I’m like, ‘Honey… are we going to keep going?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ll just change it back.’ So, he changed it back.”
