Melanie Lynskey Says Losing Touch With Kate Winslet After ‘Heavenly Creatures’ Was “More Heartbreaking Than Some Breakups”

Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey says she was heartbroken after losing touch with Kate Winslet when they were teenagers.

The actresses met as co-stars on the 1994 thriller Heavenly Creatures which, fittingly, was about two teenage girls who develop an intense, unique bond.

“When I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I’ve had,” Lynskey said on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“It was so painful and it wasn’t like anything happened, it’s just she became a gigantic, international movie star and she didn’t have a lot of time and then, suddenly, she’d be in Los Angeles and not have time,” Lynskey recalled.

She added, “People kind of drift apart, but that was so painful for me.”

Speaking to Time in 2012, Lynskey said that they maintained their “very intense” friendship until around the time Winslet had finished filming Titanic.

“We developed such a bond that for a long time we couldn’t let it go. We would write each other letters and talk on the phone all the time. We were in constant contact for so long,” she said. “Then around the time of Titanic her life got crazy because she became a superstar. I was staying with her right after she filmed that and then we totally lost touch at that time.”

Heavenly Creatures was Lynskey’s first-ever acting role, while Winslet had already established herself with a few acting credits by that time. Though the movie was a success, it did not serve for as much of a launch pad for Lynskey’s career. Winslet was swarmed with agents and offers after its release but Lynskey said there was “nothing” for her.

“I kept getting reminded I was not the things you needed to be,” she told Vulture. Then-powerful producer Harvey Weinstein was also “dismissive,” she said, and preferred to focus on Winslet. She instead took some time off before returning to acting.

On the podcast, Lynskey recalled feeling “so furious” watching her friend be criticized and “dissected” in the media after Titanic. She admitted that seeing how Winslet navigated the extra media attention served as a “huge inspiration” for how she dealt with the body shaming she received when she was younger.

“Kate Winslet is doing movies. And you’re getting to witness that talent and those performances … this is an actor who comes along once in a generation. Just focus on that!” Lynskey said.

But so is the nature of the industry. The Last of Us actress went on to explain that bonding and then parting ways with your co-stars when a project is finished is just a normal part of the job.

“I was so sensitive. I was always so injured by losing these great loves I was having,” she said. “It got easier.”

The actresses have reportedly not seen each other since the 2009 premiere of Away We Go.