Kate Winslet: ‘My children are my whole life. Any mother knows that’

Kate Winslet was at TIFF to promote her new movie, Labor Day, but I didn’t spy any photos of her husband (yes, did you forget that they got married?) Ned RockNRoll. But here are some pics of Ned and Kate leaving Claridges late Tuesday morning, where I assume they had been partying. Kate looks pretty good – obviously, I doubt she was boozing it up since she’s well into her second trimester of her third pregnancy. I have to say this too – Kate’s face looks so much more relaxed these days now that’s pregnant, right? Almost like she stopped Botoxing for her pregnancy. Huh. Ned looks decent too – he got a haircut.

Kate recently made some comments about motherhood, etc, to Hello Mag:

Kate Winslet is a ”hands-on mother”. The ‘Titanic’ actress – who has 13-year-old daughter Mia with first husband Jim Threapleton and nine-year-old son Joe with second husband Sam Mendes – is expecting her third child with new husband Ned Rocknroll and although she’s a busy movie star, she always puts her role as a parent first.

She explained: ”My children are my whole life. Any mother knows that – the second your child is born, they become the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you think about at night.”

”I’m a very hands-on mother … Even as I was walking from the elevator to this room [at Toronto International Film Festival], I was texting the doctor back in the UK to get an appointment for my son because he has an earache. I’m the number one person to do all that stuff for them. Isn’t that what a mother is supposed to do?”

The 37-year-old star admits she isn’t sure how her ”career will be affected” by having three children, but she looks forward to juggling her illustrious career with being a mother.

She told HELLO! magazine: ”I do love acting and I feel as privileged to get do it now as I did when I was 17 years old. Because of the kids, I tend not to work too much. I try to limit myself to one project a year. But that means I really look forward to the films I make and whenever the time for the next job rolls around, it feels like Christmas to me!”

[From Contact Music]

I believe that she’s a good, hands-on mom, but whenever I see her pontificate about motherhood these days, I’m reminded of a little piece of information that she discussed years ago in Vanity Fair, when she was promoting The Reader. When she went to Germany to work on The Reader, she left her kids with Sam Mendes (and her first husband, I’m assuming, since Jim Threapleton is Mia’s father) for five months. I mean, you can be a good mom and have to go away for work for a several months. I’m not saying that she’s some terrible mom for doing that. I’m just saying that these comments read like she’s trying to convince us that she’s Super-Mom and that we should judge all moms on The Winslet Scale. “I’m the number one person to do all that stuff for them. Isn’t that what a mother is supposed to do?” Etc.

Speaking of good motherhood, will this this child have the last name “RockNRoll”? I’m seriously asking. I suggest the name “Eylove” if it’s a girl.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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85 Responses to “Kate Winslet: ‘My children are my whole life. Any mother knows that’”

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  1. LahdidahBaby says:

    Looks like Ned p*ssed his rocknroll pants. Just sayin.

  2. bns says:

    I like watching her in movies, but off-screen she annoys me.

  3. Stef Leppard says:

    Ned looks soooo much better without the mullet.

  4. Tessa says:

    Wow, new highs in parenting. A mother who is in charge of her kids healthcare. Revolutionary!

  5. Barrett says:

    I feel like her real job is getting impregnated and divorced from various men.

    • ramie says:

      my thoughts exactly!

    • CaribbeanLaura says:

      Whoo that was a little harsh!

    • Pippa says:

      Barrett

      How ignorant! Shes an accomplished actress and mother who happens to have had 3 husbands.

      Your wording, in case you didnt know this, is offensive because it strips her of agency. As if marriage, divorce and having babies is something that is DONE to women. And worse, that these things diminishes that womans value in any way.

    • chloe says:

      Oh please Barrett, I don’t know the details of her first marriage break-up but her second one with Mendez broke up because he was cheating on her, if she found love and still wanted more children good for her.

    • Rosie says:

      Unbelievable that any educated person would type that. Whats wrong with you?

    • pamspam says:

      Pretty sure it was a joke, guys. That’s kind of what we do here, isn’t it? Make snarky mean funny comments? At least…I assume it was a joke…

      • ncmagnolia says:

        God, I hate it when someone ends up at the bottom of a dog pile here, whilst making an innocent comment. I’m assuming Barrett was attempting to be humorous. Lighten up, people.

  6. Hannah says:

    Eylove! Ha!

  7. Roxy says:

    Luv her!! She’s a great actress and seems like a good mom!! No hate here. 🙂

  8. taxi says:

    And the one who requires the most of her maternal skills & instincts is the baby she recently married. What will he choose for his next surname?

  9. carol says:

    and that’s exactly why I dont want to be a mother. My kid sister said the other day in passing “and when you have kids it’s like 60 percent the kid, 40 percent you.” Are. you. kidding. me. When you become a parent it’s 90 percent the kid, 10 percent you.

    • Lotta says:

      Carol, personally I enjoy having someone to care about. I would get really tired of myself if everything was about me, me, and me, 90% of the time.

      • Naye in VA says:

        It’s kind of effortless, the things you want to do to make them happy. There is everything else like Dr visits and school shopping, and activities, but really is it any less than you would do for anybody else you truly cared about? It’s a lot of work, but it doesn’t feel like it so much when you know you make them happy…..maybe more so when they poop on the floor, but mostly it’s just natural.

      • lucy2 says:

        I’m sure Carol has plenty of people she cares about, including the sister and nieces/nephews she mentioned. Parenthood isn’t for everyone.

        Naye, you seem like you’ve struck a great balance, I like what you said about collaboration.

      • carol says:

        Lucy 2: yep I love to spoil my neice and little cousins, adn I get so excited with a friend or relative get preggers! I like hering about people’s kids at work, I think they’re cute. I love kids and worked at my aunts daycare during the summers when I was in university. I just don’t want kids of my own. They arent’ for me. I want to spend my life traveling, doing hobbies, charity, hanging out with friends ans family. being a parent is the hardest job in the world – that’s why I don’t want it!!

    • Naye in VA says:

      Eh, I find a pretty good balance. There are those mothers who do nothing but mother. And that’s great for them. But you gotta make time for you. I have my daughter do swim classes and dance classes, and we do reading and some learning on the computer and the playground a few days of the week and we dance dance dance around the house.But I certainly have time for myself. I don’t leave the house until she is sleep, but the party doesn’t jump until 11pm anyway lol. But as I get older I want less and less to do that stuff anyway. I travel about twice a year in and out of country. I am working on both a degree and a certification (online whooop!) and I work full-time. I’d say that what I want for my future is what I want for her future, so her life is in collaboration with mine. I guess the only thing I don’t do is date, and that’s because between everything I have to do the last thing I have time for is a man and his crap. When I get some other things settled I guess…

      But I only have one kid who is at the age where the little things make her happy, and I have a great support system, so I definitely cannot speak for everyone, although I have friends with multiple kids who still find time to live a life outside. Honestly it’s mostly my married friends with kids who complain about not having a life lol…They can’t seem to compromise on who gets to do what, when.

      Only thing I miss doing is the #2 in peace lol

  10. Maria says:

    reminds me of Jennifer “I comb my childrens hair” Lopez.
    it sounds as if she wants to persuade us that she is the best mother in the world and in most cases it means that the person saying it is really not good at it.
    like all those “my wife is my best friend” and then getting caught with a stripper.

  11. Lucy2 says:

    I’d like to suggest GiveMeThatOldTime as a name.
    I love her as an actress. I don’t always understand her personal choices but at least she rarely does publicity for fame’s sake, just for work.

  12. Lotta says:

    If she was a man would anyone ask him about leaving the kids with their mom so that he can work? Does anyone ask Hugh Jackman that? Or Ben Affleck? It’s her job and how she makes her money, and I’m sure she had time off when she could fly over and see her kids.
    My husband is the film business and he soon has to go away for production fot four months, nobody ever said he was a bad father because of it. And he isn’t, in fact he is very involved in their life, more then most fathers I see around.
    Sometimes we go with him to the location where they are filming, but because of school and my work it is not always possible.

    • T.C. says:

      Yes Hugh Jackman and Ben Affleck do get asked questions about leaving their children for work. Jackman moved his entire family to his shooting location for long filming. He and his wife have an agreement that he can’t leave the family for months at end.

      • LB says:

        Are you kidding me? Hollywood dads routinely state in interviews that the parenting burden pretty much lies with the mum especially during filming. The mums cant say that though. They have to qualify the statement with how even when they work they are also super on-top-of-things. Ben Affleck will never have to claim to be setting up a doctors appointment from a different continent. Nobody will imply or state explicitly that he is a bad dad for it.

    • chloe says:

      Well put Lotta.

  13. toto says:

    With such details i read it as Oscar campaign …her face looks very good here.

  14. Mandy says:

    I never thought about what this baby’s last name will be. Oh gosh, that poor baby!

  15. Dorothy says:

    3 kids, 3 different men? Sounds like this whole marriage thing isn’t for her. And btw, in the South, a woman with 3 kids, 3 different men I would be considered a tramp . Just sayin.

    • PrettyTarheelFan says:

      Ooooh, southern slut-shaming…how very stereotypical of you. Southern Points* for using “tramp” but you’re definitely taking a hit for not finding a way to work “bless her heart” into the conversation.

      *For those of you who aren’t from down here, Southern Points are an alternative currency that replaced the Confederate dollars and are accepted at Cracker Barrel and other fine Southern establishments. Residency verification required.

      • Walt Jr says:

        I don’t get this “slut shaming” mentality? I mean, isn’t being a slut shameful? Same for a cad/gigolo imo.

        Everyone is entitled to their opinions, same as you. They are just that, opinions. However, that doesn’t make it right OR wrong, it’s just an opinion. Sorry that you feel the above commenter isn’t entitled to their opinion.

        Some people find sleeping around shameful behavior. Some people don’t. The world is full of different people with different viewpoints. Learn to deal. I’m in Knoxville, TN btw. A few points to you also, for putting all people in the south in the same category. We do believe in a thing called “free speech”.

        “If you aren’t offended by something at least everyday, then you aren’t living in a free society”- Mark Twain

      • Prettytarheelfan says:

        Awe, gee, I was born in ATL, grew up in Johnson City, TN and live in Charleston. I’m familiar with the South. Everyone is welcome to an opinion-but she claimed that everyone in the South would call her a tramp. I find her condescending attitude disgusting and so very typical of the attitudes around which I grew up. Fortunately, it’s my opinion and you don’t have to share it. I’m allowed to express it, just like the right to slut shame which you defended. I voiced my disagreement and addressed how common it is to find that opinion where I live. I managed not to go into a 20 page rant on how the Bible Belt impacts the approach to women’s sexuality. I think it was fairly restrained, if snarky.

      • LB says:

        Walt Jr

        My opinion is that people who are intimidated by how others experience their sexuality will try to control them with ugly language. It is also my opinion that such people are not just ignorant and hateful but usually hypocrites. In my opinion such people need to get that stick out of their butts.

        Thankyou for respecting my opinion.

      • Walt Jr says:

        Her statement was snarky. Thus the snarkily named website “Cele-BITCHY”. Expect to see these snarky comments once in a while. And, of course, I see where you are coming from. However, men who Father more than one child with numerous women, are treated just as bad as the women imo.

    • lucy2 says:

      I’m stealing this from pajiba.com comments, but it’s wholly appropriate here:
      Mick Jagger: seven children with four women
      Clint Eastwood: seven children by five women
      Kevin Costner: seven children by three women
      Charlie Sheen: five children by three women
      Steven Tyler: four children by three women
      RDJr: two children by two women
      Colin Farrell: two children by two women
      Colin Firth: three children by two women
      Donald Trump- 5 kids, 3 wives.
      Martin Scorcese- 3 kids with 3 wives plus 2 other marriages
      Billy Bob Thornton- 5 wives, 4 kids w/ 3 wives
      Larry King- too many to count
      Eddie Murphy- 8 kids with 4 women
      Mickey Rooney- 8 marriages, 9 children.

      • mia girl says:

        Wow – that list is wild. There are about 50 wives/women and 70 children between 14 famous men listed!

      • CaribbeanLaura says:

        WOW….. @Dorothy if this were the south what would they be considered, wait let me guess, Real Men? The double standard seriously sickens me sometimes.

      • manta says:

        And add to the list Scorsese’s pal De Niro: 6 children with 3 women (2 wives and a girlfriend)

      • Tabitha says:

        If Mickey Rooney jumped off a bridge, does that mean Kate Winslet should too?

      • KM says:

        Nobody slut-shames those men. That’s the point. Not ever.

        I don’t like Winslet much – working with Polanski killed any respect I had for her maternal focus, bluntly – but rumour had it her first husband cheated, and her second left her for another woman. Why is she to blame for finding another man to love and for wanting another child, while she’s still fertile enough to do so?

        As for her mothering pronouncements… she was eaten alive in the British press when her first marriage broke up and there were a lot of snide comments about her leaving her kid to be looked after by her father all the time, and she said after that she was incredibly distressed by it. I think she’s been over-compensating ever since, really.

      • Stef Leppard says:

        These men who have seven and eight children in different homes, I wonder how present they are in their children’s lives. Sad.

    • manta says:

      Luckily for Kate Winslet, she’s from Great Britain, a country whose Queen made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire the late Elizabeth Taylor, a mother of 4 children with 3 different fathers for a total of 7 husbands.

      To my knowledge, none of her kids made headlines for being sociopaths and they always had the kindest words for their mother. I suspect Winslet’s children will be fine.
      Dina Lohan had all her 3 children with only one husband. See, sometimes widening the gene pool is not so bad.

    • Elle Kaye says:

      Oh, yes, because it would be ever so much better to stay in a relationship where the man is cheating on you. Isn’t that the proper “dignified” approach that we see in ridiculous movies about the South? “Fiddled dee dee, I’ll just turn my head as he potentially brings home STD’s, for he is the head of the home and I’m just a silly-headed woman.”

      She was married to the father of every one of her children…and even if she weren’t, that does not make her a “tramp”

    • HK9 says:

      I do believe this “tramp” has an Oscar for her work and her kids only have kind words for her. Where I’m from, that’s called making a success of your life. Just sayin.

  16. PrettyTarheelFan says:

    I feel I need to honor Liz Lemon with an epic eyeroll.
    *inserts an eyeroll so epic that it might require surgery*
    I suppose I’m not a mother. Good to know, Kate. I love my son, but I refuse to apologize for having things in my life that do not revolve around him-or my husband. I have a career, I have some hobbies, I even have margaritas. All of which are great parts of my life that aren’t necessarily shared with ToddlerTarheelBuckeye.

    • T.C. says:

      It’s the motherhood industrial complex. You now have to say motherhood is the most important thing in the world/ your life even if you never spend more than 2 hours a week with your kid. It didn’t used to be this way 20 years ago.

    • Vesta says:

      “Any mother knows that – the second your child is born, they become the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you think about at night.”

      Yeah Winslet really seems to know the final truth about what ANY mother thinks (or should think). It irritates me when people generalize like this. I have never asked what my own mother thought, but I would find it perfectly okay if I wasn’t the first and the last thing she thought every day.
      *RockNROLLing my eyes*

      • Prettytarheelfan says:

        Ha, unless the kid is jumping on the bed, he’s not always my first thought. I also forgot to list celebrity gossip: a passion my family does NOT share

    • Pink says:

      Comeon now. As obnoxious as you may find that little comment, its not her fault. Her mothering has been judged very harshly over the years. And she has had very few defenders. In those circumstances its natural to start saying things that you think people want to hear even just to escape what must be the worst criticism any woman can have levelled – “you are a bad mother”.

      • PrettyTarheelFan says:

        By saying it, she’s feeding into the same mindset that made criticizing her motherhood OK. While I sympathize that her mothering might not fit the “approved” behavior, there is a better way to position her response. She’s trying to cover all the bases and appeal to mothers as a whole…but just like any other “group,” there is no one right way to fit in with us all.

  17. TG says:

    I agree with the comment way above. I think it is tacky to have kids from many different partners. Whether that be a man or a woman. How does that work sending the kids off to their various parents? If she hadn’t gotten with someone who changed his name to Rocknroll I might be able to take herself more seriously.

    • Imperfect Life says:

      @TG

      Must be very high up on that horse you are sitting on. Why dont you come down.

      Clearly she didnt plan to have multiple fathers for the kids. Life just happens. Her first marriage didnt work, second guy cheated and she got lucky and fell in love again. She wants more kids, she can care for said kids and the “morality police” want to tear her down.

    • ncmagnolia says:

      I don’t get “slut-shaming”, either. Being trampy is not a great model to hold up for any child. Seriously, how many women do you hear saying, “I want my daughter to be super-trampy when she grows up!” Since when did that become behavior to aspire to?

      That being said, I don’t think KW is “slutty” for having two marriages that didn’t work out. Especially when Sam Mendes had clearly left the building with his affair with the British actress who shall not be named. Because I might be screamed at for slut-shaming her, and God knows, we would never want to do that to some poor woman who was having an affair with a clearly married man. *stroke level eye roll*

    • rudy says:

      Tacky? are you serious?

      My girls’ birthmom has four kids from four different dads. The first dads were abusive and not so good partners. She did not marry any of them until the last and he is a wonderful partner for her.

      She is poor, comes from a dysfunctional background but now has a fantastic life with her family.

      I call her courageous and a wonderful mom. Who cares if the kids all have different birth dads.

  18. DarleneLove says:

    Look at how swollen her feet are! That is such an annoying symptom of pregnancy.

  19. Miss T says:

    To be fair, I remember her stating that Vanity Fair misquoted her about leaving her children for 5 months. She said that it was only 2 weeks. I remember she moved back to the UK with her children when her ex Sam Mendes was shooting the James Bond movie so that their son could be close to his father. So it seems like keeping the family together is very important to her. I doubt she would have left her family for months. Not that I would have a problem if she did. There are plenty of fathers who travel for work.

  20. Walt Jr says:

    Does she have to have a baby with every man she marries? Sorry, I was thinking it, and this seemed the correct gossip site to express my thoughts.

    • Brooke says:

      Just like Christie Brinkley. Least it widens the gene pool.

    • Imperfect Life says:

      Walt Jr, she wants children with the man she is married to. That should be easy enough for damn Bible thumpers, or whatever it is that informs your brand of Judging, to understand. She couldnt have known that the marriage would collapse.

      • Walt Jr says:

        I am atheist. Sorry, and unfortunately being homosexual, I will have to adopt to have children. However, I still disagree to have numerous children with several partners. I am entitled to judge whomever I please, as are you. I’m assuming that is why we are on this site commenting on the lives of others. Thank you.

    • Mia 4S says:

      Yes…and? She has the resources to support ten kids as a single mother without taking a dime of public money so it’s no ones damn business. Oh but what about the poor kids? Please. I could give you half a dozen examples of two parent, long married families that I wouldn’t leave my dog with.

  21. Jaded says:

    How about “Isheretostay” for the second name?

  22. anet says:

    she’s been there done that…with men. so what, she’s lived. nothing bad about that.
    other than that, i hate her and wish she was dead. (in media 0:))

  23. Emily C. says:

    Well, Lindsay Lohan is Dina Lohan’s whole life, and look how that turned out.

    I hate when celebrities pontificate about the way ALL people supposedly are. And so many of them do it all the bleeding time. Their lives are anything but normal, and they’re usually somewhat below average in intelligence, but they just have to inform us what everyone is like and must be like.

    I don’t believe Kate’s kids are her whole life. This is good; it would be bad for the kids, for her, and for her husband if she lived that up their asses. I would advise her to watch The Silver Cord with Irene Dunne. (And You Call Yourself A Scientist has a good summary of the movie; I’d link it, but there are occasionally virus warnings from the site, so I think it’s better to get there through Google.) Way back in the 30s, they already knew that making one’s kids one’s whole life was a terrible thing. The things we’ve forgotten…

  24. Cupcake says:

    Clearly her children are NOT her WHOLE life. She has 3 kids by 3 different men so she must spend considerable time in building romantic relationships. Also, she travels for months at a time. Why the over the top bullshit from Kate? Why not just say she loves her kids and tries to be a good mom?

    • Elle Kaye says:

      Good grief, do you understand she did not mean that literally? It is a figure of speech.

      Her kids are more important than anything else…why is that so hard to comprehend? So what if she works? It feeds the children. Are you saying that mothers who travel for work are not good parents? And yes, she built relationships while being a parent. She may have even hired a babysitter! That doesn’t mean she doesn’t think the world of her children.

      Women should just back off with the attacks. If you don’t like her, fine. But attacking her for tlking about how much she loves her children or for working or being married too many times is just woman bashing.

      Heaven forbid if a woman gets ahead and talks about her life…there will be a woman out there to tear her down for it.

      There will always be someone who is smarter, prettier, more talented or more liked. Someone who makes more money…someone who has what you don’t have. Don’t resent it, be happy for them. It will make YOU happier.

  25. Dorothy says:

    Everyone here knows that if the woman next door to you had 3 Kids by three different men there would be some eye rolls at your house about it. I’m not stating at all that I agree with it for men either. I’m not stating that you should stay in a bad marriage, I just merely meant, pace yourself, and wait to see if the marriage is a good one. It can’t be easy for the kids to have that situation either.

    • Brittney says:

      Actually, no, there wouldn’t be. Some of these comments are so antequated it’s truly puzzling; never in my life have I judged a woman for re-marrying after a painful divorce, or for continuing to have children after her first marriage dissolved. She has a right to have more children if she can provide for them, and she has a right to find a new partner after she’s deserted by her former partner. Why is there no side-eye at the men who fathered children with her and went on to cheat on her and leave her? Why aren’t we discussing that? She doesn’t portray herself as a victim — she chooses to be powerful and take control over her personal and professional choices, and that should be APPLAUDED, not ridiculed. I just can’t believe the vitriol…

  26. Prada says:

    I love her bag.

  27. sally says:

    Am I the only one who thinks her nose looks completely different?

  28. eliza says:

    Flavor Flav should be added to that list above.
    7 kids by 3 wives.

  29. mary simon says:

    I think her whole face looks completely different-mini trout pout for sure, nose and maybe even some filler? She does not look like herself at all.

  30. themummy says:

    He always looks so smug. ::gack::

    And I seriously doubt she didn’t see her kids for 5 entire months or that she left them for that long. Very, very few movies take that long to film. That sounds highly suspect to me.