What Kate did next

Neat and stylish in navy trousers and matching top, Kate Winslet appears relaxed in her hotel suite high above New York.

This despite the fact that a large number of showbusiness journalists are roaming the same floor, impatiently waiting to interview the star about her latest film, the capital punishment drama The Life Of David Gale. Except, of course, their questions are more likely to focus on the 27-year-old's divorce, her romance with American Beauty director Sam Mendes, and her recent flirtation with the airbrush for GQ magazine.

'Believe me,' says Winslet smartly, 'I was sick of the sight of me a lot last year for reasons that had nothing to do with my work.'

Watching Winslet light up a rollup and puff away you'd think she couldn't care less. Then she says, 'I always had a pretty OK time of it with the press and public. And then I committed the ultimate crime. I got divorced. I think because I maintained my dignity and never talked about the real reasons - and I will never talk about the real reasons as to why I got divorced --they started to make stuff up. All I can say is it was all lies.'

There's no doubt that Winslet feels the transition from English rose to punch bag acutely. One moment she was Britain's bestloved export - the female star of Titanic, the biggest grossing movie of all time - and then the media pack moved in, criticising her hasty break-up with husband Jim Threapleton ('my wild boy'), attacking her as a mother - her daughter Mia is three years old --and damning such arty career choices as Hideous Kinky, Quills and Iris (even though the latter resulted in a third Oscar nomination).

'There was a time last summer when it was getting to me so much I didn't want to go out,' Winslet continues. 'It really made me feel quite suicidal. No, I definitely never got to that point. But there were moments where it was pretty dark.

'No human being should be made to feel like that. The most important thing in my life is my child. My child lives with me - of course she lives with me, I'm her mother for God's sake. I read things that say I'm out all the time at premieres and have this highflying life. I hardly go out, precisely because I am a mother --I have a much more normal existence now than I've ever had in my life.'

How so? 'I have the support of an incredible boyfriend, a wonderful family and, of course, a daughter who I love more than anything else in the world.' The note of anger subsides. 'As soon as I reminded myself of those things, as soon as I got it all into perspective, I was fine.'

Winslet maintains that there was no attempt to keep her relationship with Mendes a secret. 'I have nothing to hide and I never have had anything to hide,' she says. Reports that she used a body double for a Harper's Bazaar cover are 'crap'. Being airbrushed for GQ? A hearty peal of laughter ricochets around the room. 'Actually, I was very pleased with the original shoot and couldn't understand why they'd retouched it like that. But I needed to come out publicly and say, "Look, I haven't just lost 30lb." I didn't want people to think I was being hypocritical. I don't look like that. I don't want to look like that. And quite frankly' - here Winslet suddenly leaps up and performs an impromptu pirouette - 'do you really think I need to be retouched?' Back to The Life Of David Gale. Winslet dismisses talk of renewing her bankability by choosing a more obviously commerical film, though surprisingly, her director, Alan Parker, says he met with studio resistance when he suggested casting Winslet in her first contemporary American role. 'They would have preferred an American until I reminded them she played one in Titanic, a reasonably successful film,' he says. Winslet says she was simply attracted to the role of Bitsy, an investigative reporter drawn to the plight of a convicted murderer (Kevin Spacey) on death row.

Though the picture hasn't fared particularly well in the States --too serious say some, too shallow say others - it represents a breakthrough for Winslet, paving the way for her to star in further US films set in the present day, films such as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, which she is currently shooting with Jim Carrey in New York.

Which is fine by Winslet. She's at pains to quash the idea that she's a costume-drama-queencuminteresting'-indie-goddess. 'The only time I did that was Hideous Kinky - much to the fury of my agents.' Another Titanic would be very nice, thank you: 'To say I would never want another success like that would be foolish, though I'm not necessarily waiting for the next one. The great thing about Titanic was that it really moved people. As an actor, that is, frankly, all you can hope for.'

You suspect hope is something the actress is much better acquainted with these days. 'I'm happier now than I've ever been,' she nods. 'I just don't go around waving the happy flag.' She hesitates, then expands. 'Recently I was at home putting together personal snapshots I've taken on each film I've done. I put them in order, from Heavenly Creatures up until now. All I could do was just sit there, looking at them, thinking, "My God girl, you've been bloody lucky."'

The Life Of David Gale opens Fri 14 Mar.