How Kate Winslet's First Husband Almost Prevented Her From Becoming The Star She Is Today

Her first marriage was extremely toxic.

Kate Winslet, Jim Threapleton Fred Duval / Shutterstock / Twitter
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While many people know Kate Winslet from her variety of roles in some major blockbuster films, there was once a time when Winslet was subjected to going after smaller roles  — all because of her husband.

Winslet is notoriously private about her love life, and while the 'Titanic' star doesn't share much, she has been married three times.

The actress was first married to film director Jim Threapleton from 1998 to 2001, then to director Sam Mendes from 2003 to 2011, and is currently married to Edward Abel "Ned" Smith.

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However, during Winslet's first marriage, the starlet was subjected to a cruel rule by Threapleton, who didn't want her to be famous.

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Kate Winslet's first husband had a rule that almost prevented her from being a successful actress.

Winslet first became acquainted with her ex-husband, Threapleton, in 1998 while on the set of the indie film 'Hideous Kinky.' Threapleton was working as an assistant director on the film, and it didn't take long before he and Winslet started hitting it off.

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The two married shortly after and welcomed their daughter, Mia, in 2000. 

While Winslet has never discussed her divorce from Threapleton in detail, the actress did reveal that toward the end of their marriage, things started becoming quite toxic.

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During a 2004 interview with Index, Winslet shared that Threapleton prevented her from accepting bigger roles. He quickly became the main reason why she started going after smaller roles in films because he didn't want her to be famous.

"My relationship with Mia’s dad was a mess. In the last year and a half of our marriage, I became a completely different person. I was isolated from my family and my friends,” Winslet told the publication.

“I started looking for supporting roles because Jim didn’t want me to be famous. He would read a script that I loved and immediately kill my passion for it by saying it wasn’t good enough for me. That was the only time in my life that I’ve ever lost control of my instincts."

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Her husband's constant negative opinions on her career seemed to be the end for Winslet, who shortly divorced the film director following the birth of their daughter.

Following the end of the first marriage, Winslet met her second husband, '1917' director Sam Mendes "four or five months" after her split with Threapleton.

Winslet is grateful that the media never found out the intimate details of her failed marriage to Threapleton.

In a September 2015 interview with WSJ. Magazine, Winslet expressed gratitude for being successful in keeping her marital issues away from the public eye.

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"No one teaches you, and also no one particularly helps you," Winslet said, divulging why it's hard to read about her love life in the tabloids. "It's a very specific thing to ask people to understand. 'So-and-so was mean about me in the newspaper.' 'Oh, just ignore it.' But you can't, because it's not true."

"I know lots of people who are not in the public eye who have gone through several marriages, I really do, and it's just those are the cards that life dealt me. I didn't plan on its being that way. And f-k me, it hasn't been easy, you know."

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"No one really knows what has happened in my life. No one really knows why my first marriage didn't last; no one knows why my second didn't."

Winslet added, "I'm proud of those silences."

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Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics.