The Mare of Easttown actress recently confessed to taking on more independent acting roles after starring in the 1997 blockbuster film because of how intense her celebrity became.
"Journalists would always say, ‘After Titanic, you could have done anything and yet you chose to do these small things,'" Kate remembered in an interview with Net-a-Porter published Feb. 12, "and I was like, ‘Yeah, you bet your f---king life I did! Because, guess what, being famous was horrible.'"
And that's not to say the Oscar Winner—who shares daughter Mia Threapleton, 23, with ex Jim Threapleton and son Joe Mendes, 20, with ex Sam Mendes—wasn't appreciative of her early rise to stardom.
"I was grateful, of course," Kate continued. "I was in my early twenties and I was able to get a flat. But I didn't want to be followed literally feeding the ducks."
And while the 48-year-old—who married Edward Abel Smith in 2012—has certainly managed to remain one of Hollywood's A-listers over the years, starring in beloved films like 2006's The Holiday and 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, she believes today's generation of actresses are even better equipped to handle the spotlight.
Kate said that young women today "know how to use their voice," whereas in the aftermath of Titanic, she felt she "had to look a certain way, or be a certain thing, and because media intrusion was so significant at that time, my life was quite unpleasant."
This isn't the first time Kate has spoken up about the intense scrutiny she faced following her first movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. She previously got candid about the criticism she received over her weight in the film.
"Apparently I was too fat," Kate said during a December 2022 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "Why were they so mean to me? They were so mean. I wasn't even f---king fat."
Noting that she was only 22 years old at the time, she reflected, "[Now] I would have said, ‘Don't you dare treat me like this. I'm a young woman, my body is changing, I'm figuring it out, I'm deeply insecure, I'm terrified, don't make this any harder than it already is.'"
Keep reading to revisit more of Kate's iconic movie roles.
<i>Mare of Easttown</i>
<p><em>Ammonite</em></p>
<i>Steve Jobs</i>
<i>Mildred Pierce</i>
<i>The Reader</i>
<i>Revolutionary Road</i>
<i>The Holiday</i>
<i>Little Children</i>
<i>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</i>
<i>Iris</i>
<i>Titanic</i>
<i>Sense and Sensibility</i>
<i>Heavenly Creatures</i>
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