Washington DC [US], December 29 : Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has revealed that her first intimate experiences as a teenager were with women, saying those early moments shaped her emotional understanding and later on-screen performances, according to People.
Speaking on the recent episode of the Team Deakins podcast, the 50-year-old actor reflected on her early years and said her "first intimate experiences" were "with girls." Winslet added that she had also kissed boys but described herself as "not particularly evolved in either direction" at the time.
Recalling her breakout role in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Winslet said her personal experiences helped inform the intense emotional bond portrayed in the film, which starred her alongside Melanie Lynskey. "I'll share something I've never shared before," she said. "I'd kissed a few girls, and I'd kissed a few boys, but I wasn't particularly evolved in either direction," as quoted by People.
"At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious," she added. "There was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood," Winslet noted. While the relationship portrayed in the film was deeply damaging, it was rooted in vulnerability and insecurity that felt emotionally familiar to her at the time.
Directed by Peter Jackson, 'Heavenly Creatures' marked Winslet's breakthrough role before she went on to star in major films including Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, and Titanic, which cemented her global stardom.
More recently, Winslet made her directorial debut with the Christmas drama Goodbye June, which is now streaming on Netflix. She also stars in the film alongside Toni Collette, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall and Helen Mirren.
The actress, who is married to Edward Abel Smith, has long been private about her personal life. In a 2015 interview with WSJ. Magazine, she said, "No one really knows what has happened in my life."
She later told The Sunday Times in 2021 that many LGBTQ+ actors fear coming out due to concerns over casting and career limitations, "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, as quoted by People.
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