The Truth About Kate Winslet's Three Husbands
Kate Winslet is notoriously private about her love life and rarely ever opens about her relationships or her children, but did you know she was married three times and has a child with each of her husbands? Let's take a deep dive into the actress' relationship history, which all began with Stephen Tredre, who she met while filming the British science fiction series Dark Season in 1991, per ABC News.
The couple, who had a 12 year age gap — they met when she was 15 and he was 28, per the Daily News – were together for five years and lived together in London, England before splitting up in 1995, per the Independent. According to the outlet, Winslet once referred to Tredre as "the most important person in [her] life, next to [her] family," so when he died of bone cancer in 1997, she was devastated. Winslet even missed the Hollywood premiere of Titanic to attend his funeral. In a 2008 Telegraph interview, she admitted that she never fully got over Tredre's death.
However, she did move on. Keep scrolling to read about all three of Winslet's marriages, why two of them ended and who she ended up with.
Kate Winslet's first husband didn't want her to be famous
Kate Winslet met her first husband, director Jim Threapleton, on the set of the 1998 indie film Hideous Kinky, per ABC News. The couple hit it off almost immediately, with the Academy Award-winning actress describing their first encounter as love at first sight. "I arrived and saw this rather glorious-looking blond boy with fantastic blue eyes, and I just went, 's**t,' because I knew that was it and there was nothing either of us could do about it," she once said (via Hello! magazine). The two tied the knot in a low-key ceremony in November 1998, but divorced in 2001, shortly after welcoming their daughter Mia.
At the time, Winslet's rep said the split was "amicable" (via Hello! magazine), but in later interviews, Winslet said her relationship with Threapleton was a "mess." She told Index Magazine in 2004: "In the last year and half of our marriage, I became a completely different person. I was isolated from my family and my friends." She also claimed that her ex-husband didn't want her to be famous. "I started looking for supporting roles," she said. "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."
Winslet met her second husband, Sam Mendes, "four or five months" after her separation from Threapleton.
Sam Mendes allegedly cheated on Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet's romance with second husband Sam Mendes started off a little rocky as there were rumors that she cheated on ex Jim Threapleton. "I met Sam about four or five months afterward, and, of course, the press blamed our divorce on that, saying that Sam and I had had an affair," she told Index Magazine. "Obviously we didn't, but the tabloids claimed that I was swanning around, going to premieres left and right, and that I didn't even live with my daughter."
The couple — who "met when Mendes approached her for a play" he was directing, per The Hollywood Reporter – got married in May 2003 and welcomed a son named Joe that same year. In 2010, Winslet and Mendes announced their decision to split after seven years of marriage, per ABC News. At the time, many believed their film Revolutionary Road – which Mendes directed — led to their breakup, but others reports suggested another woman — actress Rebecca Hall — may have been involved. However, Mendes denied ever cheating on Winslet, calling the rumors "utter nonsense" and "untrue and ridiculous" (via The Huffington Post).
Kate Winslet's third husband has changed his name twice
Soon after her divorce from Sam Mendes, Kate Winslet met her third husband, Edward Abel Smith (a.k.a Ned Rocknroll), when a fire broke out while she and her children were vacationing at Sir Richard Branson's luxury estate, per Entertainment Tonight. Smith — who changed his name in 2019 – is the nephew of the billionaire business tycoon. Winslet and Smith got married in a private New York ceremony in December 2012, per BBC, before welcoming their son — and Winslet's third child — Bear in 2013.
It seems the third time might be the charm for Winslet. In 2015, the actress had this to say about her hubby in an interview with WSJ Magazine: "Thank God for Ned — really. He's just so incredibly supportive, and he's so much fun. He's absolutely everything to me. And to all of us." Winslet was also more open about her failed marriages, admitting she's as peace with the "cards that life dealt [her]." However, she's happy she kept the details of her divorces private. "No one really knows what has happened in my life," she said. "No one really knows why my first marriage didn't last; no one knows why my second didn't. I'm proud of those silences."