Kate Winslet Felt Protective of Shailene Woodley While Working With Her on ‘Divergent’
Shailene Woodley teamed up with Kate Winslet for the hit franchise Divergent. On set, the two became more than just co-workers, and Winslet would eventually grow very protective of the young actor.
Kate Winslet had a really hard time with her fame after ‘Titanic’
Winslet initially found adjusting to her newfound celebrity challenging. At the time, she was already somewhat known in Hollywood circles for her impressive work in films. She attracted significant attention to herself in movies like Heavenly Creatures and Sense and Sensibility. But Titanic took her career in a direction that overwhelmed her.
“It was a really hard time,” Winslet once told Yahoo. “I felt quite alone in how to understand what was happening to me. It becomes very intense when you’re thrust into the media spotlight… I had to learn self protection quite quickly.”
Eventually, Winslet thought the best decision was to focus on smaller films. The strategy worked, as the attention her celebrity attracted began to dwindle.
“I knew that in order to preserve my sanity and my nubile creative self I had to just do things that really mattered to me and not think about anything else,” she said. “And that’s what I did and that is what got me through. Once I got beyond shooting Holy Smoke it was very clear to people: ‘OK, Kate Winslet is the kind of girl who is going to do the things that she believes in and make interesting choices.’ And they kind of got a little bit bored after that… I just had to sort of ride it out.”
Kate Winslet felt very protective over Shailene Woodley
An older and much more experienced Winslet saw her Divergent co-star Shailene Woodley under Hollywood’s giant spotlight as well. It reminded the Oscar-winner of her own post-Titanic fame. Except she considered Woodley’s experiences with the media far more challenging than her own.
“The one thing I would say is for both Shai and [her co-star] Theo [James], it’s been harder for them than it was for me,” Winslet said in a 2015 interview with Time. “The simple reason is social media is what it is. It literally is a dominating beast, and we didn’t have that back when.”
Because of Woodley’s growing celebrity, Winslet felt the need to look out for the younger actor. But after Divergent, Woodley seemed to get a pretty good handle on fame as far as Winslet was concerned.
“I felt I was able to have a protective wing around her through Divergent,” Winslet said. “I was a safety net from afar. She hasn’t particularly needed me for the second one now because she herself will admit she learned a great deal through the experience of Divergent and the press attention that came after that.”
Shailene Woodley once shared that she’d never think of herself as famous
Woodley was determined not to let the possible attention she’d receive from Divergent get to her. It didn’t matter what status she reached, the actor felt avoiding the trappings of fame would keep her level-headed.
“I’ll never, ever think of myself as famous, even if I ever get to the point of George Clooney … because I think you might go crazy if you start referring to yourself in those terms,” she said according to AP. “But the main thing for me is just, I’m me, and I live such an amazing life which I’m so lucky for and I have such amazing friends and the perfect family … that I don’t see anything changing.”
