Kate Winslet is "paranoid" about being trapped in a house fire since she was caught up in the Necker Island blaze in 2011.
The Oscar winner, her two children Mia, now 19, and Joe, now 16, and her future husband Ned Smith had to flee Ned’s uncle Sir Richard Branson’s luxurious property after it was engulfed in flames and she they made their escape the ‘Titanic’ star even needed to assist the Virgin businessman’s elderly mother Eve Branson out of the building.
Kate – who has six-year-old son Bear with Ned – admits the terror of that night has stayed with her ever since and now she can’t sleep unless she has triple checked that her stove is off, candles are blown out and any potentially dangerous electronics have been unplugged.
In an interview with Candis magazine, she said: "That was probably the biggest crisis that I’ve ever faced – it obviously makes you more anxious, and I’m now paranoid about house fires, which I didn’t used to be. I’ll constantly make sure I’ve turned off the stove, blown out all the candles, I’m always unplugging hairdryers and hot tongs and checking them obsessively three times to make sure that yes, I really did unplug them and I really did switch them off. It does have an impact on you."
Kate can still recall how Ned’s calmness in the situation made her fall in love with him, as in her panicked state her first thought was to grab a bra and her family’s passports.
She explained: "There were a lot of us staying in the house at the time, and when something like that happens, it brings out the true person that’s for sure! You could be the person who grabs the head torch and the one pair of trainers we had on the island and be the practical sort. That was what Ned did. Me? I grabbed a bra and the family passports, so what does that tell you about me? The bizarre thing about the bra was that I picked it up and went to put it on, and then I thought, ‘No, that’ll take too long,’ so I put it down. Then I thought, ‘Goddammit, I am not going without a bra – I’ll take the time!’ So I did, and then I took the passports – of, and the children, obviously!"
Kate Winslet is ‘paranoid’ about fires since Necker Island blaze
