Kate Winslet, who became a household name after the blockbuster success of "Titanic," has revealed her agony at the time of the release of the movie. The plump actress said instead of being happy at the grand success of "Titanic," she was mourning the loss of her first love, Stephen Tredre.
"Looking back, I see what I was dealing with when `Titanic' came out," the 31-year-old actress said in Sunday's Parade magazine. "I had a lot of pain, and I was confused about who I was."
The U.K.-born Winslet, who's married to director Sam Mendes, met Tredre in London when she was in her teen years.
"He was the most important person in my life, next to my family," she said of Tredre.
Winslet said as an overweight teen she was teased by fellow girls.
"I was very shy," she says. "I was vulnerable ... Other girls teased me horribly. I was bullied. I'd just put my head down and get on with it. That was my means of survival. Stephen made me feel secure and embraced."
Tredre was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1994, and died three years later during the opening week of "Titanic."
The two had ended their relationship but "talked every day," she said. "This was not somebody I'd turn my back on."
The "Finding Neverland" actress described Tredre's death "unbelievably heartbreaking."
"I believe in fate," she said of her marriage to Sam Mendes. "I know it sounds corny, but it was like Sam and I were from the same tribe. We were meant to meet: Both of us from Reading, both born in the same tiny hospital, Dellwood."
The couple together have a 2-year-old son, Joe, and Winslet has a 6-year-old daughter, Mia, from her first marriage to James Threapleton.
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