Melanie Lynskey was heartbroken after losing touch with teen costar Kate Winslet: 'It was so painful'
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Melanie Lynskey is reflecting on how excruciating it was to slowly drift apart from her Heavenly Creatures costar and close friend Kate Winslet.
The Yellowjackets star and Winslet were both teenagers when they struck up a fast and close friendship while on the set of the 1994 drama. In a 2012 interview with TIME, Lynskey noted that the pair shared a "very intense" bond and "couldn't let it go," adding, "We would write each other letters and talk on the phone all the time. We were in constant contact for so long."
After filming wrapped, however, the pair ended up embarking on their own separate career paths — with Winslet going on to star in Titanic — and they eventually lost touch with one another along the way, which devastated Lynskey.
"When I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I've had," she said on Thursday's episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "It was so painful and it wasn't like anything happened, it's just she became a gigantic, international movie star and she didn't have a lot of time and then, suddenly, she'd be in Los Angeles and not have time."
Lynskey noted that their separation was simply something that "gradually happened" over time. "It happens in relationships," she explained. "People kind of drift apart, but that was so painful for me."
The actress added that Winslet wasn't the only actor who she thought she'd formed a friendship with only to have it fall apart after filming the final take.
"I did this movie with this actor and when we were finished I said, 'Oh my gosh, I'm just so happy that I met you and we have this friendship,' and she said, 'Yeah, I'm not friends with actors. I don't stay friends with actors.' And I was just like, 'What?'" Lynskey recalled. "I was so shocked by it."
She acknowledged that the actor was "someone who had been working longer than me" at the time and, as a result, was more used to the idea of "we move on and this is just a couple of months of our life."
Still, it hurt to bid goodbye to her newfound friends. "I was so sensitive. I was always so injured by losing these great loves I was having," Lynskey remarked. "It got easier."
Everett Collection Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in 'Heavenly Creatures'
While the pair haven't crossed paths recently — the last time Lynskey saw Winslet was at the premiere for the 2009 film Away We Go — she explained that she still considers her former costar "a huge inspiration" for how she handled all of the body shaming that she experienced when they were younger.
"I know she's a very, very confident person, but everyone's sensitive and she's very sensitive. And the way she was dissected and talked about … I remember at the time being so furious on her behalf," she said. "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. Just focus on that!"
Lynskey concluded, "It infuriated me so much and I just was always amazed by how gracefully she handled all of that. It was always really impressive."
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