'I Was Curious': Kate Winslet Admits Her 'First Intimate Experiences' as a Teen Were With Women After Not 'Particularly Evolving in Either Direction'
The notoriously private actress revealed one of her deepest secrets.
Dec. 29 2025, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
Kate Winslet has confessed she was a "curious" teenager and her "first intimate experiences" were "with girls," RadarOnline.com can reveal.
While the Titanic star reflected on experimenting with her sexuality in her youth during a recent appearance on the Team Deakins podcast, Winslet, 50, admitted, "I'd kissed a few girls, and I'd kissed a few boys."
Kate Winslet Admits She Was 'Curious' as a Teen
Winslet revealed as a teen she had 'kissed a few girls' and 'kissed a few boys.'
The topic of Winslet's "first intimate experiences" as a teen was brought up as the actress-director discussed her breakout role in director Peter Jackson's 1994 horror/romance flick Heavenly Creatures, which is based on the true story of a 1954 murder and the obsessive friendship between two teen girls played by Winslet and Melanie Lynskey.
Winslet noted that she drew on the connections she had made with women as a teenager for the role, and those experiences helped form the "really intense connection" between her character and Lynskey's.
Kate Winslet's Secret Exposed
The actress noted she 'wasn't particularly evolved in either direction' when she explored her sexuality.
"I'll share something I've never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls," Winslet said on the December 24 episode. "I'd kissed a few girls, and I'd kissed a few boys, but I wasn't particularly evolved in either direction."
"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," The Holiday star added. "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 has long been private about her personal life and relationships.
The 50-year-old actress has been married to third husband, Edward Abel Smith, since 2012. Winslet and Smith share 12-year-old son Bear Blaze.
The movie star was previously married to second husband Sam Mendes from 2003 to 2011. The pair share adult son Joe Mendes, 22.
She has one daughter, Mia Threapleton, 25, from her first marriage to ex-husband Jim Threapleton, whom she was married to from 1998 to 2011.
Keeping Her Romantic Life Out of the Spotlight
The star previously said she's 'proud' no one knows why her first two marriages ended.
Winslet, who made her directorial debut earlier this year with the holiday drama Goodbye June, has been fiercely private about her personal life and relationships.
She previously spoke about her deliberate effort to keep her past relationships out of public view – and why she's "proud" of being so secretive.
"No one really knows what has happened in my life," the actress said in a 2015 interview with the WSJ. "No one really knows why my first marriage didn't last; no one knows why my second didn't. And I'm proud of those silences."
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The mother-of-three has also shared her thoughts on how "f----- up" it was that many LGBTQ+ actors and actresses fear how their sexuality may impact their career.
"I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know – some well known, some starting out – who are terrified their sexuality will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast in straight roles," Winslet told the Sunday Times in 2021.
