Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey has revealed her private “pain” over losing touch with her former co-star Kate Winslet after their movie wrapped. Photo / FilmMagic
Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey has revealed her private “pain” over losing touch with her former co-star Kate Winslet after their movie wrapped. Photo / FilmMagic
New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey has opened up about “losing touch” with Kate Winslet after the latter became a global movie star.
The pair starred alongside each other in the Peter Jackson-directed 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, which marked both their feature film debuts.
Just three years later, Winlset would front James Cameron’s epic Titanic alongside Leonardo DiCaprio; her Hollywood career exploding shortly thereafter.
Lynskey, now 45, who is enjoying a career resurgence thanks to the success of her series Yellowjackets, sat down for an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where she revealed how “heartbreaking” it was to become estranged from Winslet, now 47.
Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet starred in Heavenly Creatures in 1994. Photo / Heavenly Creatures
“I guess when I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I’ve had. It was so painful,” she said. “It wasn’t like anything happened, it’s just she became a gigantic international movie star and didn’t have a lot of time.
“Suddenly, she’d be in Los Angeles and not have time. And it just gradually happened, and it happens in relationships you gradually drift apart.
“But I was … it was so painful for me.”
Lynskey said it was common to lose touch with co-stars, given everyone moves onto new projects, but that she was “sensitive” to it at the beginning of her career.
“I was always so injured by losing these great loves I was having,” she said, adding, “It got easier.”
The Last of Us star added she rarely crosses paths with Winslet on the award show circuit, though saw her at the 2009 premiere of Away We Go, in which Lynskey starred and Winslet’s ex-husband Sam Mendes directed.
“It was so fun to see her,” Lynskey said.
Despite their estrangement, Lynskey said she finds Winslet a “huge inspiration”, particularly for her stance on unrealistic beauty standards in the industry.
Her comments come after Winslet criticised how the media treated her over her weight when she was rising to fame.
“Apparently I was too fat,” Winslet said during an interview on the same podcast last year. “Why were they so mean to me? They were so mean. I wasn’t even f***ing fat.
“I would have said to journalists, I would have responded, I would have said, ‘Don’t you dare treat me like this. I’m a young woman, my body is changing, I’m figuring it out, I’m deeply insecure, I’m terrified, don’t make this any harder than it already is.’ That’s bullying, you know, and actually borderline abusive, I would say.”
Lynskey, who herself has hit out at body critics on social media, said she was astounded by how “gracefully” Winslet handled the commentary.
“I know she’s a very, very confident person, but everyone’s sensitive and she’s very sensitive,” Lynskey said.
“And the way she was dissected and talked about … I remember at the time being so furious on her behalf.
The duo both had their feature film debuts in Heavenly Creatures. Photo / Heavenly Creatures
“Especially because … Kate Winslet is now in the world. Kate Winslet is doing movies. And you’re getting to witness that talent and those performances. This is an actor who comes along once in a generation. Like, just focus on that.
“She was tiny, and she still is tiny.
“It infuriated me so much and I just was always amazed by how gracefully she handled all of that. It was always really impressive.”
