Kate Winslet claims she didn’t feel like she belonged in Hollywood even after the success of Titanic

Kate Winslet has claimed she didn’t feel like she belonged in Hollywood even after the success of Titanic, which she starred in opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. 

The actress, 45, spoke candidly on Tuesday as part of a panel alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Rashida Jones, Vanessa Kirby and Andra Day for the Los Angeles Times.

Of being cast in James Cameron’s 1997 epic, she said: ‘I was playing an American for the first time. And working with Leo, who I’d seen in [What’s Eating] Gilbert Grape and Basketball Diaries. So it was like, “Oh, my God, I’m Kate from Reading.”‘

‘I was the overweight girl who would always be at the end of the line. And because my name was a W, sometimes I wouldn’t even get in the door of the audition because they’d run out of time before the Ws. And I was in Titanic. It’s mad.’

After appearing in Titanic, Kate went on to star in a number of independent films, choosing to stay out of the Hollywood limelight.

The Holiday star said of her decision: ‘The honest answer is I was scared of Hollywood. A big, scary place, where everyone had to be thin and look a certain way.

‘And I knew that I did not look that way or feel like I fit there, so if I was ever going to belong, I had to earn my place. And to me, I hadn’t earned it.’ 

Kate claimed motherhood helped to change her attitude towards showbusiness and made her realise she didn’t need to be concerned about how she looked.

She said of Titanic’s success: ‘I had this feeling of “maybe that was just luck.” When I became a mother at 25, all of that stuff evaporated completely.

‘Then two years after she was born, I was asked to do Eternal Sunshine [of the Spotless Mind]. I do believe that was a huge turning point in my career, because from then on people suddenly went, “Oh, she can do that?!”‘

Kate recently reunited with Titanic director Cameron for Avatar 2, which is due for release in December 22.

Last month she showcased her newly-acquired free-diving skills in an amazing behind-the-scenes glimpse of the film being filmed underwater. 

The actress posed at the bottom of a water tank with a billowing cape while shooting the eagerly-anticipated sequel, in which she plays ‘a water person’ called Ronal. 

The striking shot, shared by the film’s producer Jon Landau, bore a similarity to Kate’s now-iconic pose in her breakout role in Titanic. 

The screen star recently revealed she can now hold her breath for over seven minutes since learning free-diving while shooting Avatar 2 in New Zealand.