Kate Winslet says playing problematic characters has taken a toll on her mental health.
The 50-year-old actress revealed that playing emotionally draining roles has often been detrimental to her well-being and that she even needed “the right support” to break away from past roles.
Kate told me Lessons from our mothers podcast: “There’s something that happens as an actor, and it sounds very self-indulgent, so I rarely say it.”
“But when you play a really difficult role — I’m thinking of Mare from Easttown, which flattened me, my god — you kind of have to come out the other side,” she added.
The Titanic star continued: “I call it re-entering. Re-entering your own life, returning to your friendships, reintegrating back into the rhythm of the family. Leaving a family, leaving people behind, letting go of a character.
“It actually takes a while to get a character out of your system, especially if you’ve played them for a long time, which in television you really do,” Kate further said.
The holiday actress also revealed she needed professional help after starring in the 2021 HBO crime drama Mare by Easttown, where she played the role of a troubled Pennsylvania detective after the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on production.
“It was supposed to be a six-month shoot,” Kate recalls.
The Oscar-winning actress continued: “Covid happened after the five months we were filming, and everything was pushed, and when we came back, our five remaining weeks turned into ten.”
“By the end of the whole thing, I had been playing that character for over a year. And I actually got a little angry. It was kind of weird. It’s the only time in my life where I really needed some good help, to get back to myself,” Kate Winslet added.
“It sounds completely insane, and even as I say it, I feel quite uncomfortable saying it because I’m aware of how crazy and self-indulgent that can sound,” she admitted in her conversation on the podcast.
