What is the story about?
Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet has shared a candid piece of her personal history, revealing that some of her first intimate experiences as a teenager were with women, a reflection she says helped her deeply connect with the emotional demands of her breakthrough role in
Heavenly Creatures (1994).
The 50-year-old actress made the revelation during a recent episode of the Team Deakins podcast, where she discussed her early life, career beginnings and the intense emotional landscape of her debut performance. Speaking with remarkable openness, Winslet said, “I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls.” She added, “I’d kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction.”
She also added, “At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and 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.”
Winslet explained that the curiosity and intensity of those early experiences helped her understand the complex dynamic at the heart of
Heavenly Creatures
, a psychological drama about two teenage girls whose obsessive bond leads to devastating consequences. She told podcast host Roger Deakins that at that stage in her life she was exploring her feelings and that emotional openness allowed her to instinctively connect with the film’s central relationship.
Heavenly Creatures was directed by Peter Jackson and marked a turning point for both Jackson and Winslet. The actress has often spoken about how formative the project was for her career, and on Team Deakins, she linked her personal memory to the film’s raw portrayal of vulnerability and connection between young people.
The 50-year-old actress made the revelation during a recent episode of the Team Deakins podcast, where she discussed her early life, career beginnings and the intense emotional landscape of her debut performance. Speaking with remarkable openness, Winslet said, “I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls.” She added, “I’d kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction.”
She also added, “At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and 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.”
Winslet explained that the curiosity and intensity of those early experiences helped her understand the complex dynamic at the heart of
Heavenly Creatures was directed by Peter Jackson and marked a turning point for both Jackson and Winslet. The actress has often spoken about how formative the project was for her career, and on Team Deakins, she linked her personal memory to the film’s raw portrayal of vulnerability and connection between young people.
