Exceptional beauty and perennial success Kate Winslet (Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, my dreams) may've taken on the role of a bad mother for the upcoming picture Little Children, but if you criticize her real life parenting skills she'll fucking kill you. That's the impression she's giving the British press with a statement she made referencing their coverage of her in 2000 when, shortly after the birth of daughter Mia, she was accused of abandoning her baby after leaving former husband Jim Threapleton.

"People can throw anything at me they want, and be as mean as they like, but don't mess with me as a mother, because I will get out a knife and come after you. It's really not fair. It's a vulnerable time. I was very young - I was 25. It was really, really hard."

Despite her distaste for being seen as a terrible mommy by the public, though, Winslet has no problem portraying one on the silver screen. Such is proven her by decision to play the part of Sarah in the recently released Little Children, a role that sees her as a wife and mother whose boredom and lust have driven her to an affair with a married man at the expense of her own children.

I've played mothers before, but theyve been decent moms,' notes Winslet. I've never played a character who was struggling with being a parent and Im not like that myself. It was hard to play someone with a big [personality trait] that I didnt respect.'

Though Winslet had no compunctions about playing her own character, she was initially wary of the film's script due to the presence of another character named Ronnie. Ronnie (played by Jackie Earle Haley) is a pedophile whose recent release from prison and subsequent relocation to Sarah's community greatly troubles the parents and invites the harassment of at least one of them.

I was initially hesitant,' she says. But once I read it, I was absolutely amazed at how brilliantly that part of the story was handled. Ronnie would do anything not to have this psycho-sexual disorder.

I've never felt that much sympathy for someone like that before. When you watch the movie, you just feel so sad for Ronnie, and thats down to Jackies [Earle Haley] brilliant performance."

Don't mistake Winslet's sympathy for the character of Ronnie for compassion for all pedophiles, though. Winslet clearly states that that is not the case.

But as a mother, how do I feel about that kind of person? Id be happy to kill them.'

Little Children is out now, and Kate Winslet's swift knife of justice is always waiting.

Picture Source

Meli

Manchester, NH

October 2006

OCT 30, 2006 05:12 PM

Haha. That sounds like something my mom would say.

Necia

San Francisco, CA

August 2005

OCT 30, 2006 05:49 PM

I fucking love her, so fucking hard.

undershaker

Milwaukee, WI

November 2004

OCT 30, 2006 05:53 PM

Kate Winslet pulls chunks larger than Ronnie out of her stool in the morning.

(Did I just butcher that Phil-Hartman-as-Frank-Sinatra-talking-down-to-Chris-Rock-as-Luther-Campbell line?)

Arsenic_

HOPEFUL

Jacksonville, FL

OCT 30, 2006 05:56 PM

I'm so shocked that Heavenly Creatures was never mentioned in this article. I think its almost ironic that in her first movie she played a teen who helped kill her friend's mother.

...and now this.

Paisley

USA

September 2006

OCT 30, 2006 06:11 PM

Can I cuddle with Kate Winslet?