Do you remember watching The Titanic for the first time? Leo playing that sweet looking opportunistic Jack, Kate Winslet as the rich yet free-spirited Rose. Oh, how we loved them as a couple and how we all cried when Jack froze into a human-sized ice-cube and Rose kept whispering “Jack, come back!”. Those were the days. Can you believe it’s been more than 20 years since then? Neither can we, but it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and the beautiful friendship they’ve managed to maintain over the years.
Hollywood is a highly competitive place, so it’s very rare that people form real friendships that would last a lifetime. It’s usually “we’re great friends but we rarely see each other because of conflicting schedules” and “it’s been a pleasure working with them and I’d love to do it again”. But Leo and Kate managed to actually become best friends.
They met for the first time in 1997 on the set of Titanic and somehow managed to form this incredible connection. Kate was just 22 and Leo was 23 when they met. Kate Winslet has said on Oprah that her and Leo “..always had a laugh together. We always got on incredibly well”.
Leo also said that “I feel the same way about her. If it wasn’t for her, making that film we would’ve been shrapnel. It was a very tough film to make and we were partners together, we held each other’s hand and supported each other”.
They walked the red carpet together at the Golden Globes in 1998 and so many fans hoped their relationship was more romantic than they’re letting on, but just a month later Kate showed up to the Oscars with her future husband and not Leo.
It’ll be almost a decade before we see them together at the 2007 Golden Globes but they kept a friendship going and mentioned each other in interviews a lot. Leo was asked on Oprah what’s his favorite on-screen kiss and he said it was Kate and when he was shown the footage of Kate he affectionately said, “That’s my girl”. Kate, in turn, has crashed his interview in 2005 at the SAG awards to say that she’s so proud of how special of a person he’s become.
In 2008, Kate and Leo made another film together called Revolutionary Road, where they played a couple. It was directed by Kate’s second husband Sam Mendes. Kate later won a Golden Globe for this role and will thank Leo in her speech!
Later Kate invited Leo to her wedding and he was the one to walk her down the aisle and give her away to her third husband Ned Rocknroll. When Kate won her Oscar in 2009 Leo wasn’t there, but she did mention on the red carpet that the necklace she was wearing on the cover of Time was given to her by Leo.
In 2016 the Oscars were boycotted by many because #OscarsSoWhite but Kate chose to come because Leo was nominated. They even walked the red carpet together and Kate was the first to stand up and applaud when Leo finally won.
They’ve often called each other best friend and talked so much about how brilliant they think the other one is at their job. Leo always says that Kate is his favorite actress in the industry. It’s such a beautiful friendship that these two managed to keep for such a long time, we hope it stays the same for years to come.