Following actress Kate Winslet’s shock announcement that she and husband Jim Threapleton had split after just three years of marriage, friends and family are trying to figure out just what went wrong in the seemingly fairytale romance.
“It is so difficult if you are always in the spotlight,” Jim’s grandmother, 73-year-old Mrs Threapleton, told one UK newspaper. “But Kate is very down-to-earth, very normal and she could deal with it. Kate likes company and the limelight whereas Jim is quiet. He is not the pushy type.”
“We have known for a little while that things are not good between them. Her work and his work often kept them apart. We found out about two or three weeks ago when Jim said they were having a few difficulties. They seem to be under so much pressure that they don’t have time for each other – her with her film career and him writing… We just hope things will turn round and they will sort their troubles out.”
But friends say a reconciliation is not on the cards. “Jim asked Kate over and over if they could make a go of it,” an insider revealed to the UK tabloid The Mirror. “However, there has been an irreparable breakdown. Kate believes their relationship has suffered a seismic fault. There’s a lot of hurt here.”
“Jim is inconsolable and bewildered,” reports the source. “He says they were both snapping at each other and the atmosphere could be very strained. But he thought it was just a rough patch. He never knew Kate would end it completely.”
Kate, a two-time Oscar nominee, offered few details about the split on Tuesday, saying just this: “It is extremely sad but we are all fine. This is absolutely an amicable separation and it is a mutual decision between both of us. Jim and I have great respect for each other. There is no malice at all. Mia remains the happy child that she has always been and Jim and I are communicating constantly.”
The two met on the Moroccan set of the small-budget film Hideous Kinky and married shortly thereafter in a low-key ceremony at her local church in Reading, southern England. They welcomed their first child Mia in 2000 and just a few months ago Kate was extolling the joys of married life. However, the couple have moved out of their house on the river Thames and are believed to have called it quits in the last six weeks.
Many believe the rift was at least partially fuelled by the Titanic star’s phenomenal success, which is at odds with Jim’s relative obscurity. “He wants to be recognised in his own right – write his scripts and get away from things – and not just be Kate’s husband,” said one Threapleton relative.
The couple’s refurbished home in Surrey is said to be on the market. Kate’s next film Enigma opens across the UK on September 28.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
