Who Is Kate Winslet's Husband? All About Edward Abel Smith

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Kate Winslet and Edward Abel Smith began dating in 2011 and tied the knot just a year later. Smith has been by Winslet's side ever since, and while the pair are generally private, the acclaimed actress has spoken of quite fondly of him to the press.

"He didn't particularly plan on meeting and marrying a woman who is in the public eye and therefore having been so judged," she told The New York Times of her husband in 2021, adding, "He's vegan, does yoga, breath work and cold water swims."

Winslet even credits Smith for some her recent professional successes.

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"My creative life in the last few years has been really, really, colorful for me," she told PEOPLE  in 2015. "And I've really really enjoyed being able to embrace that. I have a wonderful man in my life who is so incredibly supportive that makes it possible for me to have those experiences. It's been a really fun time."

So who is Kate Winslet's husband? Here's everything to know about Edward Abel Smith.

He met Winslet through his famous uncle

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Winslet and Smith met in August 2011 while they both vacationed on his uncle Richard Branson's Necker Island — and a disaster brought them together. After a suspected lightning strike, a massive fire broke out at the Virgin mogul's properties. Winslet helped Branson's mother out of the main house on the island, while Smith escaped a neighboring home.

The actress compared the experience to what her and Idris Elba's characters went through in the film The Mountain Between Us. "Exactly the same thing happened to me when I met my husband," she told PEOPLE in October 2017. "He was a complete stranger, we met, and then the next day the house burnt down."

"I believe strangers can meet and their lives can change so much that they simply can't go back to being the person they once were," she added. "[Smith and I] very much went through that together. Even now, I often times find myself looking for an item of clothing or a book or something and I go, 'Where have I put that?' And Ned will look at me and go, 'Did it get burnt in the fire?' "

The incident also inspired the middle name of the couple's son, Bear Blaze Winslet.

He was once famously — and legally — known as Ned Rocknroll

When Smith and Winslet met and first married, his name was legally Ned Rocknroll.

Winslet explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live in January 2021, "So his birth name is Abel Smith. And as time went by and Ned became Ned — who is quite an original personality — he just decided at one point in his life to just change his name to Rocknroll. Ned Rocknroll. So when I met him, his name was Ned Rocknroll. This is completely true."

The Oscar winner added, "When he changed his name to Rocknroll, I don't think he had anticipated what might happen if he should have a girlfriend whose name was Kate Winslet and who was quite well-known and therefore the press might kind of not react so well to the fact that she had this boyfriend named Rocknroll. So, it was a little tricky."

So what prompted him to change it back? Winslet revealed, "I got to the point where I'm like, you know, I'm filling in doctors' forms and it says 'mother's name' and 'father's name,' and I'm like, 'Honey ... are we going to keep going?' And he's like, 'Yeah, you're right. I'll just change it back.' So, he changed it back."

He and Winslet married in secret

Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock Kate Winslet and her husband

In December 2012, Winslet and Smith tied the knot in an upstate New York wedding ceremony that was so secretive, not even their parents knew about it.

A rep for the actress told PEOPLE, "I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned Rock'nRoll in NY earlier this month in a private ceremony attended by her two children and a very few friends and family. The couple had been engaged since the summer."

RELATED: Emmy Winner Kate Winslet Recalls Falling 'Head Over Heels' for Her Husband: 'A Whirlwind'

Winslet's Titanic costar Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly walked her down the aisle.

Winslet wasn't keen on taking her new husband's last name

The actress revealed in a 2013 interview with The Telegraph that she never had any intention of changing her last name to Rocknroll after marrying Smith — but she wouldn't have changed it to Smith, either.

"I was never going to change my name to Rocknroll. I've never changed my name to anything, so I didn't see a reason to start now. I quite like Kate Winslet," the Oscar winner, who was previously married to directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, said. She added jokingly, "In fact, I think it's very flashy."

Winslet explained that she wants to keep her "flashy" family name alive, which is why she and Smith gave their son, Bear Blaze Winslet, her last name.

"I'm one of three girls, and we have one boy in our family," she said. "So essentially the only person who is going to carry the name along is my brother, and he doesn't have any children at the moment."

He took Winslet's last name as a middle name

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Winslet revealed in an interview with The New York Times that part of Smith's new name post-Rocknroll also included "Winslet."

"He added 'Winslet' as one of his middle names, just simply because the children have Winslet," she explained. "When we're all traveling together, to all have that name on the passport makes life easier."

He worked for Virgin Galactic

Before meeting Winslet, Smith worked for his famous uncle's space initiative, Virgin Galactic. One of Smith's first public sightings with Winslet was in October 2011, when the pair were photographed holding hands at the launch of Spaceport America in New Mexico.

He was the reason for Winslet's self-described "appalling" speech at the 2011 Emmys

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Smith joined Winslet at the 2021 Emmy Awards, where she took home the trophy for outstanding actress in a limited series or movie for the title role in Mare of Easttown. It was a meaningful and winning night for Winslet in more ways than one.

"When I was here 10 years ago with Mildred Pierce we had actually just met," Winslet recalled to reporters in the press room at the 2021 awards ceremony, speaking of Smith. "I knew that I was going to spend my life with this man."

"We're getting to the Emmys and I was just so in a whirlwind of having just met him that I couldn't even concentrate," she said. "And I vividly remember making an absolutely appalling speech because I was not on planet earth because I had fallen head over heels in love with this person who I just met. So to have him here, it's really quite special."

In her 2011 speech, Winslet expressed shock at the victory, thanking her costars, production team and crew on the HBO miniseries. She also profusely thanked her mother, saying, "This just means such a lot to me. I just wanted to say one thing also, which is that Mildred Pierce was capable of great acts as a mother but she was an extraordinary multitasker. And to that end, I actually do have to share this with my mum. It doesn't matter how old you are or what you do in your life, you never stop needing your mum, and I'll never stop needing mine. So thanks mum!"

He is now a stay-at-home dad

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Smith is now a full-time stay-at-home dad for his and Winslet's 7-year-old son, Bear Blaze — and he also remains a devoted and doting husband to his Oscar-winning wife.

"He looks after us, especially me," Winslet told The New York Times in a May 2021 interview. "I said to him earlier, like, 'Neddy, could you do something for me?' He just went, 'Anything.' He is an absolutely extraordinary life partner."

RELATED: Kate Winslet Reveals She 'Took Last Year Off to Be with My Family': I Needed a 'Reset'

Winslet revealed that Smith even helps her run lines for her scripted projects, even though he has dyslexia.

"I'm so, so, so lucky," she said. "For a man who is severely dyslexic, as he is, he's great at testing me on lines. It's so hard for him to read out loud, but he still does it." Her sentiments echoed what she told WSJ. Magazine about her husband in 2015. "Thank God for Ned — really," she said. "He's just so incredibly supportive, and he's so much fun. He's absolutely everything to me. And to all of us."