'The Rosie O'Donnell Show' - April 13, 1999

Kate comments on a certain meeting with fans, and Rachel then tells the whole story (or tries to)!

Rosie: (Intro)…Her most recent nomination is, of course, for her role in a tiny little film - not a lot of people saw it - it's called 'Titanic'. Take a look. [Flying scene] Her latest film, 'Hideous Kinky', opens this Friday. Please welcome cutie-patootie, Kate Winslet…[Lots of cheers as Kate enters, hugs Rosie and sits down.] How are you? Well, hi, Kate.
Kate: Hello!
Your hair looks beautiful.
Thank you very much. [Turning to audience] Do you like it, everybody? [Many people shout "yes".]

Was it a relief to cut it off? Have you always had long hair?
It actually just needed a damn good cut, you know? Just before Christmas it was getting really kind of…just messy and wasn't looking quite right. So, I just thought, 'chop it off.'
Chop it off. And was it an emotional thing for you? Because a lot of people go through…
No, I was like, 'get the champagne out, chop the hair off.' I loved it. I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Well, it looks fabulous. It's lovely to see you again.
Thank you.
And congratulations on your marriage.
Thank you very much. [Applause from audience]
You're welcome. I saw the pictures in In Style magazine. [Holds up magazine, open to the pages showing pics of Kate and Jim.]

How cute is your little hubby?! How did you meet him? What's the deal?
He's so beautiful and wonderful. We met on 'Hideous Kinky'.
Which is the movie you're here to talk about.
Which is the movie that I'm here to talk about. We met on the set, and he arrived a little bit late because he was working on something else back in England. And this beautiful person turned up, and my reaction was, 'oh no, oh no.' Cause I just knew that something was going to happen, and he says that he sort of felt the same way.
Is he an actor, as well?
No, he's not. He was an assistant director on the movie, so he was, you know, one of the crew members and stuff. But it was all love under the sun, and we came home together and got married a year later, so it's brilliant.
And you had your big wedding reception in a pub?
We did, a good old English pub.
Give me a high five on that! You had kegs of beer and potatoes, and…
We did, we had kegs of beer, we had mulled wine because it was quite cold and we wanted to kind of keep it a little bit Christmassy and things.
Right.
And we had all of that. And we had bangers and mash. People keep picking up on this - I think they just think, well we're all big 'porkers' eating all these bangers and mash. But, they chose to ignore the fact that we actually had other things like Salad Nicoise and Provencale Tarts, and all these kind of things…
What is banger and mash?
Bangers and mash is an English dish, and it's basically piles of mashed potatoes and big fat sausages, and loads of gravy all over the top.
Sounds delicious.
Incredibly unhealthy!
Would you bring some for me next time?
Certainly will do.
A little bangers and mash. Now, have you gotten over the whole 'Titanic' swell? There's no way you could have prepared yourself for the kind of attention that you got.
No, I know. I mean, so many people said to me, 'oh, you know, your life is going to completely change when this movie comes out' and all these things. And I just thought, 'well, I don't want it to all change,' and 'what do you mean, it's going to get bigger?' And it was just so extraordinary, and I think the thing now that I feel is it's never gone away. It's still there and it did so much for so many people. I think that's the thing because the response was so warm and so huge that it's very rewarding for me to sort of sit here and now feel that that's something that's going to go down in history.
It definitely will.
And that I was in it, you know. I see it and I think, 'oh, that's me, that's me, I was in that film.' It's very strange.
Little girls were crazy about it. I mean, I have some friends of mine - my friend's daughter saw it, like, 14 times in the movie theater.
I know, I know. Well, I heard this - I heard there was someone who had seen it, like, 25 times. And little girls having 'Titanic' parties, and I just found that completely amazing.
Have they, like, bombarded you on the street?
People do come up and say, you know, lots of lovely things. And I always think that's actually a really brave thing to do because I think, 'I'd never dare to approach somebody'. I'd always be too nervous. But there were some little girls that came to my house the other day. And I'd been out and they stayed around and stuff. And my husband said, 'oh, you know, she'll be back later and maybe do you some autographs, which I did. And they gave me these presents. And one thing was a bunch of flowers. The other thing was a little kind of fluffy mouse where you pull the tail and it hops around the table. And the third thing was a blow up sofa, a big blow up sofa. And I didn't know…I just thought, 'well, what am I supposed to do with this blow up sofa?' And I haven't blown it up yet, we don't sort of have room for it, but…
They waited at your house and you greeted them and took their gifts and gave them autographs?
Yeah, absolutely.
That's so nice of you! And so totally un-American. We would have called security and had them removed, you know what I mean?
They were completely harmless. And, apparently, they'd met on the Internet, and they'd taken this day and they decided they were gonna get together and come to my house, and all of these things. So, you know, what could I do? I thought it was a wonderful thing, really.
That's so funny. I remember when I saw the movie ['Titanic'] - this tells you how I've really got my finger on the pulse of, you know, American pop culture - I saw the movie and I said, 'great performances, amazing actors and actresses, it's a little long, I don't think it'll make a lot of money.' [Kate laughs] The biggest, most successful film of all time, I couldn't believe it, I'm such a loser, I'm like, 'I don't know'…
Well, no one really knew what was going to happen with it. And coming towards the end of filming, you know, people were sort of saying, you know, 'this is going to be big, this is going to be big.' And I started to feel like, 'well, maybe it is, actually, maybe I've done this movie and perhaps it is going to be a huge success.' And look what happened.
Look, here you are. It's so wonderful, but I loved you before - in 'Heavenly Creatures', your first movie. How did you get that role?
I got that role…I was sent it with a whole bunch of girls from an agency that I was with at the time. And I'd read the synopsis of the story. And I was with my dad in the car and I was reading this, going, 'wow, Dad!' And he said to me, 'you'll do it, you'll do it.' And I thought, 'God, I've got to have that belief, then.' So, I went for it right down the line. And then…I was working in a deli at the time. I didn't have any money, and I thought, 'well, you know, I'll just do this part-time job.' I was in the middle of making a sandwich, a pastrami sandwich for somebody, and the phone rang and someone said, 'Kate, your agent's on the phone.' I dropped everything, someone else finished making the sandwich. I ran to the phone and my agent said, 'you've got the job.' And I just burst into tears, dropped the phone and had to go home early. I couldn't make any more sandwiches after that, I was so excited!
And then you were on your way. Well, your latest film, 'Hideous Kinky' is about you and travels in Morocco.
Absolutely right. It's based on a novel by Esther Freud, which I believe is more well known in England than it is here. And it's autobiographical - Esther, when she was young, when she was five years old, was taken to Morocco by her mother, with her other sister. And it's really about the time that they had there and what they were escaping from in London, which was kind of hardship and not having much money and not much sort of fun for the girls. And she just thought, you know, 'time to change things,' and went out there. And it's really about the experiences that they had, the people that they met, and what it kind of gives them as an experience and as an adventure.
And it seems as though it was kind of troubled. We have a scene where a woman has stolen your pants.
Yes, this is true, this is true. They lived in lots of different places, and one of the lodgings that they stayed in, there were…in the next door room…actually prostitutes were occupying this room. And she'd stolen my pink trousers, and I wasn't happy.
That's the clip we have. 'Hideous Kinky' - take a look - Kate Winslet. [As the clip ends, we see Kate leaning towards Rosie, saying 'they're in the audience.' She was obviously attempting to put the spotlight on Carrie and Bella.] 'Hideous Kinky' opens this Friday…and where are they?
I'm waving at them.
The little girls who are in the movie who play your daughters - they're here in the audience. Wave, you cutie-patooties. [Shot of Carrie and Bella, who are obviously surprised at being singled out.]

Look how cute they are! Adorable. Now, Kate, will you stick around and play a game and win some stuff for our audience?
Absolutely will do!
All right - Kate Winslet after this - don't go away.
[Kate, Rosie, Carrie and Bella stand on the stage next to a display holding 5 photos of famous boats and 5 photos of celebrities underneath them.] Back with Kate Winslet, Bella and Carrie, who star in 'Hideous Kinky' as the daughters of Kate. Aren't they cutie-patooties? [To the girls] Say hi to everybody. [Carrie and Bella wave and say, 'hello!'] Lovely British 'hello'. OK, if Kate successfully plays the game 'Ship Shape'…[Kate is nervously saying, 'ooooh' - while she plays with Carrie's hair!]…everyone in the audience will win…hold that up, Carrie…[Carrie shows a videotape cover for the movie 'Antz']…the 'Antz' video. There you go. OK, here's how we play. Now, you were on the Titanic, big boat, you're associated with that film. Here we've got five famous boats and five people associated with them.

[Kate shakes her hands and says, 'ooooh'.] You have to match, in 30 seconds…[Kate says, 'OK']…the boat with the famous person. Girls, you can help if you want.
What happens if I get some wrong?
On this show we give the prize anyway.
Great!
You've got 30 seconds…go! You can help, girls, you can help. [Kate, Carrie and Bella move to the game board. While they play the game, the band plays and the audience claps along.]
OK, this one goes on the 'Yellow Submarine'. This one is the 'Jaws' man. What else have we got? This one [Shelley Winters] goes on this one [Poseidon].

[To the girls] Do you know who he is [Gilligan]? Take a guess. [Bella points to one empty space while the Carrie points to the other. Fortunately, Kate makes the correct choice.] Done!
You got them all right! Roy Scheider - 'Jaws'. Gilligan - the S.S. Minnow.
That was a guess.
Carnival Cruise - Kathie Lee Gifford.
Complete guesses!
'Yellow Submarine' - the Beatles. And Shelley, swimming, in 'The Poseidon Adventure.' [To Kate] You did so good!
Well, I totally guessed on these last two.
You guessed the last two?
[Pointing to Bob Denver/Gilligan] He's sort of a very all-American guy, isn't he? We didn't know about him in England.
You don't get 'Gilligan's Island'?
No. I vaguely recognized his face, and so I thought, 'ah, I've seen that somewhere before' and so I just guessed.
You have to sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…[words to the theme song from 'Gilligan's Island']…that started from this tropic port aboard a tiny ship. [Audience joins in] The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour, a three hour tour. Then, thunder, lightening. [As audience starts clapping along, Kate tells the girls to clap also.] The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. [Noticing the girls clapping along] Look how good they are. [To audience/band] OK, stop. Look how helpful and nice they are. They've never seen the show, they're British and they're happy, they're just clapping. [To Kate] But it's nice of them to participate. Girls, it's so nice to have you here. Thank you very much for helping. The movie 'Hideous Kinky' opens this Friday. Go see it, with these three fabulous women. [To Kate] Thank you very much for being here. [To audience] And she's gonna sign some 'Titanic' stuff for charity.
Yes! [Carrie turns and throws her arms around Kate, Bella joins in.]

[Just prior to the end of the show, we see Rachel seated where Kate had been seated in a previous segment, next to Rosie's desk. A stack of photographs is on the desk.] We're here with Rachel [last name], who was in the audience, who during the commercial after Kate Winslet's little segment started to scream, 'it's me! I'm the couch girl, I'm the blow-up couch girl! And, apparently, she is. Now, what's the deal, Rachel? You just showed up in England?
I was in England on a school trip and Kate's my absolute favorite actress ever, and these two girls I was meeting up with, Sarah and Helena, we met on the internet through a mailing list about Kate. And so we were like…I know where Kate lives because my friend knows her, so I had her address. [Rosie holds up photo of Rachel with Kate during the early part of this segment.]

Yeah.
And I'd met her before once.
Yeah.
And, so I…basically, first, I was gonna show my friends where she lives and leave.
Yeah.
But we ended up…
Knocking on the door?
No, we were shoving things through the wrong mailbox, like these flowers, and they got stuck. And then we were, like…and someone goes, 'they're pushing flowers through.' And we were like, 'oh, God, and we ran away.' And then, we wanted to hear them say something else…
You wanted to hear them say something else? OK.
So we…
[To audience] We're not encouraging children to do this. We're just explaining what she did.
We bought these obscure gifts. I got one, too, we got one for Kate, a clear green blow-up sofa. And we were trying to shove that through the mail slot. And this guy opens the door, who's the guy…his name's Elliott. He's, like, in one of these pictures…[looking through pictures].
[Holding up picture to camera] This guy? [Picture of Elliott with Rachel]
Yeah.
That's the guy who opened the door. [Looking at camera] Don't ever hire this guy to do work for you. Don't be his friend or anything, he opened the door.
He's Kate's wallpaper man.
[Still talking to camera] Well, if you need wallpaper, this guy will let anyone in your house. Blame him. He will let any human in.
He was fixing…she kind of let some water down…
Cut to the chase because we've got to go to commercial.
…And he was fixing it.
So she was nice enough to come out and greet you?
What happened was, he said her bell was off. We were hangin' with him, and then…
[Clearly impatient] Yes, yes.
We thought it was off, but it rang. So, then Jim came down and he invited us in. And then Kate came and we were hanging out…
And was it nice to meet her?
It was awesome. She's amazing. Kate, if you're still listening, I love you, it was awesome, you're the best thing in my life!
How old are you?
I'm sixteen.
All right, sixteen. You will outgrow this. [Again looking at camera] Don't worry.
No, I won't [outgrow this].
We will be right back, after this commercial. [Rosie and Rachel look through photographs as camera pulls back.]

Back to the 'Rewind' Page