Celebrity Baby Blog / Mia Threapleton

Kate Winslet talks motherhood and her latest acting role to Australian newspaper

Kate Winslet: celebrity, actor, but most importantly mother. Kate, 31, is married to Sam Mendes and mother to Mia, 6, (with Jim Threapleton) and Joe, 3, (with Mendes). Sal Morgan from The Sun-Herald calls her "normal" and "totally down to earth." Here’s more:

What kind of mum is she? A stress-head?

Like many other mothers she gets up at 5.30am to make her children’s lunches, but she isn’t the total stress-out kind; "I’m really not that kind of stress-out, freak-out person…and I think I’ve become calmer since having kids, because you have to. You can’t be self-absorbed in any way. There is no time when you are a mum."

On her latest role in Little Children.

Kate calls it her "most difficult acting experience to date." Winslet plays Sarah, an adulterous housewife and distracted mother. Kate adds that she "didn’t respect the character – she was a bad wife and a bad mother and shooting the love scenes was the worst. The stuff gets harder when you’ve had two kids."

On working with two children.

The couple split their time between NYC and Cotswolds and attempt to not take on roles simultaneously so that one of them can be with the children (other celebrity parents following this routine include former couple Reese Witherspoon/Ryan Phillippe, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett/Andrew Upton). Kate is currently on a year long hiatus from work so that she can spend more time with her children. When she does work they do travel with her; "When I travel for work I try and bring them with me but they rarely come on set. I would never drag them along and leave them in a trailer with a box of crayons waiting for mummy."

Source: S Magazine, The Sun-Herald, January 28th, 2007.

Photo from PEOPLE, with permission