Kate Winslet hits out at “borderline abusive” ‘Titanic’ comments

Kate Winslet has hit back at the criticism surrounding the end of Titanic, claiming the famous ‘floating door’ scene led to her being body shamed.

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Oscar-winning actress discussed the “borderline abusive” comments the press made about her weight, following the release of James Cameron‘s 1997 film.

The movie ends with Winslet’s character Rose surviving the sinking of the historic ship by using a floating door as a raft. However, many have long argued that there was enough room for Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) to use it as well.

“Apparently I was too fat,” Winslet said when addressing why her character was the only one to survive. “Why were they [the press] so mean to me? They were so mean. I wasn’t even fucking fat.”

She continued: “I would have said to journalists, I would have responded, I would have said, ‘Don’t you dare treat me like this. I’m a young woman, my body is changing, I’m figuring it out, I’m deeply insecure, I’m terrified, don’t make this any harder than it already is.’ That’s bullying, you know, and actually borderline abusive, I would say.”

25 years after the Oscar-winning film premiered, Cameron has now made a documentary to disprove the theory that Jack could have survived on the floating door.

To put the discussion to bed “once and for all,” the director commissioned a scientific study to prove that it would be impossible for both Jack and Rose to float on the piece of wood.

“We have done a scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all,’ Cameron told Postmedia (via Metro).

To disprove the theory, the scientific study employed a hypothermia expert and a “forensic analysis” of the situation, placing two people with “the same body mass of Kate and Leo” on an accurate reproduction of the door featured in the film.

“We put sensors all over them and inside them, and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived,” Cameron confirmed. “Only one could survive.”

The documentary will air in February on National Geographic, and the intentions are clear for Cameron, who commented: “Maybe, after 25 years, I won’t have to deal with this anymore.”

Cameron and Winslet recently reunited for Avatar: The Way Of Water, the long-awaited sequel to the director’s 2009 blockbuster.