Kate Winslet makes candid revelation about early intimacy with women, says it shaped ‘Heavenly Creatures’ role

In a recent interview on the Team Deakins Podcast, Winslet reflected on her teenage years and said her early experiences influenced her portrayal of Juliet Hulme in the 1994 psychological drama.

“I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls. I’d kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction,” Winslet said.

She added that her curiosity and emotional awareness at the time helped her connect deeply with the intense bond between the two central characters in the film.

“At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and I think there was something about the really intense connection that those two women had that I profoundly understood,” she said. “I was so immediately sucked into the vortex of that world they were in, which obviously became horrendously damaging to both of them, as they had huge insecurities and vulnerabilities.”

Directed by Peter Jackson, Heavenly Creatures is a critically acclaimed psychological drama based on a real-life case.

The film follows two teenage girls—Juliet Hulme (Winslet) and Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey)—who form an obsessive friendship and create an elaborate fantasy world called Borovnia, populated by imaginary “heavenly creatures.”

As their emotional dependence deepens and their parents attempt to separate them, the girls’ fantasy world begins to blur dangerously with reality, culminating in a shocking act of violence.

Following Heavenly Creatures, Winslet went on to star in major projects such as Sense and Sensibility and Hamlet, before achieving international fame with Titanic in 1997.

The 50-year-old actress’s most recent project is her directorial debut Goodbye June, a family drama released in select UK and US cinemas on December 12 and streaming on Netflix from December 24. Winslet directed, produced and starred in the 2025 film.