Kate Winslet reveals how she balances premieres, motherhood, and her romance with director Sam Mendes. By Lesley White. Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier

Kate Winslet's New Life

Movie stars don't come much more normal than Kate Winslet. When I find her sitting in the lobby of the Sanderson hotel in central London reading a newspaper, there are no dark glasses or entourage, no aura of imminent recognition. She arrived by cab and will wander out onto the crowded street to hail another when we are through. With its grand archways and acreage of white sheers, the venue is not really Kate. "I always feel like I'm going to walk into a mirror or trip over something in these places," she says, and then laughs. "I'm never wearing the right clothes, and what's more, I never will be." Kate's clothes, the carefree wardrobe of the reluctant icon, have always been the source of both comment and affection. Her trademark Harley- Davidson biker boots fell to bits a few months ago, but their replacements-black, knee-high, and butch, worn with a mail-order suede skirt and a black sweater-will do just fine.

How the self-confessed tomboy appears right now is nothing short of ravishing: a cascade of blonde hair and luminous eyes, with a body that's neither diet-skinny nor generously cushioned (the extremes between which she has classically veered), but slim, healthy, ready for action. Good old-fashioned domestic bliss is the reason for such radiance.

During a stormy year-and-a-half in which she split from Jim Threapleton, her now ex-husband and the father of her baby daughter, Mia, she has fallen madly in love with theater- and film-directing wunderkind Sam Mendes. Kate and Mia live with him in a fashionable patch of northwest London-not that the address matters to Kate, nor even the interior design. "We just painted the walls the colors that we wanted, and that was it. There was no one advising us, I couldn't bear it." They also have a rambling manor house in the Cotswolds, the rolling hills of southwest England, for which Mendes reportedly outbid another celebrity seeking privacy-Elizabeth Hurley.

The actress and the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty might seem an unlikely pair. He is the charming, Cambridge-educated lady-killer whose dates have numbered Calista Flockhart and Rachel Weisz; she's the English rose known for her loathing of metropolitan preening. When they met for the second time in the fall of 2001, she had just parted from Threapleton, with whom she fell in love when he was an assistant director on the set of Hideous Kinky in Morocco. (She and Threapleton wed in November 1998, wearing his-and-hers ensembles designed by Alexander McQueen; three years later, she ended the union because "it just wasn't right anymore.")

Kate Winslet's New Life

Kate has changed since I last met with her two years ago- not only is she slimmer and sleeker, but far less ready to share her private emotions with the world. "All I'll say about Sam and I is that we are very happy," she says, no longer the guileless ingenue. "He is wonderful with Mia; he adores her."

These days, Kate spends most of her time playing Mummy to her two-year-old daughter, having decided early on to do without the help of a live-in housekeeper or a nanny. Work is kept strictly in its place. At the end of 2001 she made The Life of David Gale, costarring Kevin Spacey, in which she plays a hard-bitten New York journalist trying to establish the innocence of a death-row convict. She is proud of the movie, and points out that it stole only seven weeks of her home time; Mia traveled with her to Texas, and her ex-husband, with whom she remains chummy, came out to visit.

This past summer she shot Neverland, the story of how J.M. Barrie came to write Peter Pan, in London with Johnny Depp- another seven-week stint and the sum of her year's work. After Titanic's tidal wave of success, Kate could be making millions but prefers to boil eggs for breakfast while she watches her child play in the garden. "I found becoming a mother the most liberating thing in the world," she rhapsodizes. "I've never lived a very social life, anyway, and now everything is about Mia and what we will do today-the zoo, swimming, or the baby gym? At the end of the day, she goes to bed, and I sink into a bath."

Becoming one half of a golden couple hasn't forced Kate to live a more glittery life. "A couple of times a week we go out to the theater or for dinner, but I like to go to a little place up the road rather than trotting into town to one of those [she wrinkles her nose at the thought of celebrity haunts] places"

In work, as in her personal life, Kate has always pleased herself, never following a prescribed career path, while remaining an exclusive property in a market of less choosy talents. At 27, however, calling the shots feels a little uncomfortable for a girl who grew up in a family of actors. She shudders at the notion that her father, Roger Winslet, or actress sisters, Anna and Beth, would ever think she had grown too big for her Doc Martens. "To this day, I look at them and think, Why should it be any different for me? I feel guilty. I'm no better than they are-quite the opposite in fact. Why haven't my sisters made films at my level?"

One of four children, Kate was born in the Berkshire region, west of London. She attended a local theater school, full of bitchy nymphets and rich girls, where she never felt completely accepted. By age 11, she was earning money from a breakfast cereal commercial; at 17, she was cast by Peter Jackson in her film debut, Heavenly Creatures, as a schoolgirl engulfed by a murderous fantasy. When Kate gets a new part, she still calls her mum and dad, for whom she recently bought a new house. "Inside, I'm still the 17-year-old who was so excited when she got a job that she couldn't breathe."

At times, she has identified too strongly with her roles: fainting on set, succumbing to fevers and vapors, being unable to let characters go; but now she seems rooted and works so little that the demons have been banished. Don't get the wrong idea, however: Motherhood will not sanitize her choices as an actress nor limit the nude scenes, which have ranged from a full-frontal birth scene in Jude to being ravished on an altar in Quills. "Naturally I'd think about Mia seeing me in sexually compromising situations, but I'll just stick to my rule about nudity-it has to be completely justified."

When Kate swam naked for the opening shots of Iris,. Mia was six months old, and Kate had only just stopped breast­feeding and lost the 48 pounds she had gained during her pregnancy. "When you have a child, you simply accept that your body changes," she says. "I enjoy having a crepe-y stomach from where my skin stretched; it is my physical mark of Mia, so it's precious. I don't spend my life saying, 'My God, I've got a stomach like a deflated balloon.'"

She is of the same mind when it comes to appearing on the big screen. "It is not about how I look at all, it's about conveying truth to an audience. If I'm meant to look like crap, then it thrills me to see that I've never looked worse." She does not make requests in the makeup chair or ask the costume designer to flatter her curves.

Despite her increasingly glam look and slimmer figure on the red carpet as of late, England's sweetheart purports to have little interest in her appearance. On her wrist this afternoon is a beaded bracelet given to her by director Alan Parker at the end of the shoot for The Life of David Gale, and at her neck, the jewelled cross she admits coyly is "a gift from Sam." Tokens of sentiment-not necessarily style-matter most to Kate. When we order our coffee, she asks for a latte (unskinny) and quickly demolishes the three melting chocolate-chip cookies that accompany it. "I don't care about what I eat anymore. As a mother, you become aware of how selfish it is to be preoccupied with your appearance. I am also setting an example to Mia-life is too short to get bogged; down with that stuff."

When grand occasions demand a little more attention, Kate calls in a stylist friend; the stunning red fitted gown she wore at last year's Academy Awards for her third nomination was made by London-based designer Ben de Lisi, choserv for his designs' understated femininity. "It was elegant.. I don't like being over-the-top. I hate stealing the show; it's not my thing. But I had realized that I'd worn a lot of black and a lot of covering-up things, and I thought, Maybe I don't need to do that this year" Unlike so many of her contemporaries, who might wince at her high-street footwear and roll-up cigarettes, Kate makes no connection between maintaining youthfulness and being offered quality work. "I enjoy seeing my face change," she says defiantly. "Aging interests me. I don't understand why people want to stop the process." She looks a little earnest when she confides how blessed she feels as a mother, an actress, and a loved woman. But then she laughs, as if to say, How lucky can a girl without a manicure get? •

Kate Winslet can be seen next month in The Life of David Gale.

KATE'S STYLE SECRETS

Who are your style icons? Susan Sarandon and Rita Wilson, for looking sexy and growing older gracefully. What's your signature style? I'm living for my Juicy Couture jeans at the moment, as well as T-shirts, and mid-calf or knee-high boots.

What fashion items would you die without? My boots- I love boots. Woolly hats. My Juicy Couture velour zip-up sweatshirts-they're comfortable and practical. And my seamless black G-strings from Calvin Klein and Lejaby. Favorite designer? Dolce & Gabbana. You don't have to be a size two. They cut for a woman with a shape. It's very sexy. Labels that dominate your closet? I don't know. Literally. I cut the labels out of all my clothes-and my daughter's- because they're scratchy. Problem is, I cut the care labels out, too, so everything shrinks to the size of a keyhole. , What do you sleep in? Nothing.

If you were an accessory, what would you be? A watch, because I'm a practical girl.

Beauty mantra? You should always remove your makeup before going to bed,

What's in your makeup bag? Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer, eye cream, an eyelash curler, Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mas­cara, BeneFit concealer, Nars The Multiple makeup stick for my cheeks, and Carmex. I don't wear perfume. Who cuts and colors your hair? Nicola Clarke at John Frieda in London's Mayfair.

What's inside your purse? Cell phone, photographs of my daughter and my loveliness, and tea-tree toothpicks. My pet hate is food in teeth.

What decade would you like to have lived in? The 1920s. Women were really just discovering their shapes and were dressing up. And those hats!

Reported by Kristina Richards O'Neill

On the Cover
Kate Winslet, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, wears a silk charmeuse halter-neck gown by Ralph Lauren. Makeup: Sun-Kissed Bronzing Powder in Bronze Solaire, Artliner Precision Point EyeLiner in Noir, Coulour Focus Exceptional Wear EyeColour in Candid, Flextencils Full Extension Curving Maxcara in Black, Delicate Oil-Free Blush in Bronze Glow, and Juicy Tubes Ultra Shiny Lip Gloss in Spring Fling. All Lancôme. Fashion editor: Mary Alic Stephenson; hair, Serge Normant; makeup, Gucci Westman; manicure, Jin Soon Choi for Jin Soon Natural Hand & Foot Spa.

Where to Buy

Cover - Ralph Lauren gown, select Ralph lauren stores.
Kate's Turn - Marc Jacons dress, select Nordstrom stores.

Source: Harper's Bazaar, Scans by DiscoverKate.com