Kate Winslet and family relocate to New York

Fed up with the British paparazzi, Kate Winslet and her husband, director Sam Mendes, have decided to uproot their family, which includes daughter Mia, 6, and son Joe, 3, from their London home and settle down full-time in New York City. The clan had previously split their time between the two cities. The Oscar-nominated actress says she finds New York to be much calmer and less invasive and does not plan on returning to her home country any time soon.

You’d see them (photographers) hiding in the trees and try desperately to ignore them because you don’t want your child affected by it. It’s weird and freaky. You just don’t want someone you don’t know taking a photograph of your small child. It’s sick. It’s better in New York. New Yorkers are much more respectful, not just the press but the people.

Source: The Post Chronicle

Have you ever relocated your family?  From where to where? What was the experience like – stress nightmare, relatively smooth sailing?

Comments

We moved from Ohio to Charlotte, North Carolina last summer. No friends or family in Charlotte. We just needed a fresh start. My husband travels so we could live anywhere. My sons are 10 and 7 and daughter 8 and they’ve adjusted beautifully. There are so many new families here (many new kids in school and in the neighborhood) and it is so nice to have them play outside most of the year. They are making some wonderful friends. I miss family and friends but we’ll be going to Ohio for a visit this summer and of course family and friends will be visiting here. We decided to rent a house to make sure we know the area very well before committing to a home purchase. Best decision we made for our family.

- Loralee on March 24th, 2007

we just moved from south Florida to Central Florida last year. Its not as far as Kate moved , of course! It was a huge adjustment. We moved from a relatively bustling city with 4 malls within 10-20 minutes of home to a small city where the nearest mall is half an hour away. The only shopping nearby is a Target and a Wal Mart.

My daughter was affected the most, I think. We moved right at the end of her Junior year of high school. Brutal, I know! But, she has ended up coming out better for it. She went from having straight c’s and an occasional D to having straight A’s most of her Senior year. The schools here are definitely better. Its been better for my son too. He is special needs and we tried so hard to get him into a specific school back in South Florida to no avail. Here, we got him into the equivalent of that school right away and he has done so well there.

Of course the adjustment was hard for me too. I have no family nearby, which was tough. I used to see my grandma every couple of days and now I only see her once a month, once every couple of months sometimes. She practically raised me so its hard not to see her.

My mom did move here and lives with us. That has been hard too. We get along, but not as great as we did when we didn’t live together!

All in all, I am happy here and hope to make this our permanent residence and buy some land to build our dream house on in about 5 yrs.As long as we aren’t living in the city I will be fine. Downtown Orlando and the theme park areas are just too much for me!

- tink1217 on March 24th, 2007

I wonder how that will work out with custody of Mia. Doesn’t her dad live in England?

- mary on March 24th, 2007

They seem to spend almost all of their time in New York anyway — Sam Mendes does most of his work there anymore, and as far as I know it’s where the kids are both in school. I wouldn’t think this would be any kind of adjustment for them.

- Chiara on March 24th, 2007

My husband and I left London, England, about six months before our daughter was born. Not that I have any ill-wills towards London but for us it just wasn’t the place. We live in New York City now and while we definitely don’t have a paparazzi problem, the adjustment has been nice. We can take our daughter and step-daughter out of NYC anytime we want for a vacation but they really are thriving in the City

I think its a shame that the paparazzi are so invasive. Sure, if a child is at a photoshoot or at a public event, take their pictures but don’t be hiding around the house and yard scaring these kids!!

- Heather on March 25th, 2007