If there is an actress who has fully embraced the ageing process, it’s Kate Winslet. She entered her 40s declaring she felt “triumphant and calm and happy”. Now 48, as she nudges towards her next decade, she seems more powerful than ever.
Asked recently her definition of a movie star today, Kate told a newspaper: “To me, quite honestly, the term ‘movie star’ is almost an invention in many ways. For me, I just try to do my job well. Try and stay humble. Try to be kind and try to be grateful for everything that I have.
“And most importantly, to remember that when you’re a woman and you’re getting older… it’s a good thing, not a bad thing.
“Those are qualities that I think help anyone, really, in a high-profile position in this industry.”
She has always exuded star quality, from her film debut in Heavenly Creatures at the age of 18 to the Oscar winner she is today.
And while midlife continues to bring professional fulfilment, it has also brought personal contentment. She is a happily married mother of three who juggles her career with making packed lunches and doing the school run. She even took a career break in 2021 to be with her family and has rarely worked outside school holidays, so she can bring her children with her to film sets.
HAPPY HOME
“I love being a mum; it was good to have a bit of a reset,” the actress has said of her time off.
She married her third husband, Edward Abel Smith – Sir Richard Branson’s nephew, once known as Ned Rocknroll – in 2012. The couple live in Sussex with their son Bear, ten, actress daughter Mia, 23 – from Kate’s brief marriage to director Jim Threapleton and who co-starred with her mother in Channel 4 movie I Am Ruth – and son Joe, 20, from her marriage to director Sam Mendes.
Kate has been vocal in calling out what she regards as the sexism and body shaming that blighted her relationship with the media early on in her career, and is glad that Mia and other women of her generation “know how to use their voice”.
Meanwhile, Kate’s latest role allows her to play on her midlife power and confidence to full comedic effect, portraying a deluded and menopausal dictator of an imagined Eastern European republic in HBO six-part satirical series The Regime.
