Kate Winslet didn’t do a ton of press around Mare of Easttown, but I am expecting her to talk more about the series now that every episode has aired and the conversations are not littered with spoilers. Plus, she’ll want to campaign for awards for her outstanding work in the limited series, and she absolutely will deserve all of the nominations and awards she gets for playing Mare. She was great! During her recent press campaigns, Kate hasn’t talked that much about her husband, Ned Rocknroll. I low-key wondered if there were some marriage issues, honestly. But in a recent interview, Kate was back to talking up Ned, who I guess we’re calling Edward Abel Smith now. Media outlets are referring to him as “formerly known as Ned Rocknroll” so he really did change his name back, which he promised to do in 2019. Some highlights:
On Ned/Edward: Kate called him “the superhot, superhuman, stay-at-home dad.” Winslet shares a son, 7-year-old Bear Blaze with Abel Smith, 43, whom she married in 2012. “He looks after us, especially me. I said to him earlier, like, ‘Neddy, could you do something for me?’ He just went, ‘Anything.’ He is an absolutely extraordinary life partner.”
He reads lines with her: “I’m so, so, so lucky. For a man who is severely dyslexic, as he is, he’s great at testing me on lines. It’s so hard for him to read out loud, but he still does it.”
He never thought he’d marry an actress: The Oscar winner admitted that Abel Smith “didn’t particularly plan on meeting and marrying a woman who is in the public eye and therefore having been so judged” but that he handles it well.
He’s all about the calming energy: “He’s vegan, does yoga, breath work and cold water swims.”
For what it’s worth, Ned (I can’t get used to his real name) is from a well-connected family and his first wife was a well-connected aristocrat, then he began to eschew that sort of double-barrelled aristocratic life and fell in love with an actress. And now he’s a stay-at-home dad and he travels with Kate when she’s working and all of that. I would imagine he’s pretty happy, and clearly, it works for them. Her two previous partners were very much “in the industry” and they often had competing work schedules, especially Sam Mendes. I feel like Winslet wanted something a lot different with this relationship.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
She seems really happy. Good for her.
I forgot they were still together. I’m a little surprised that it’s lasted, but perhaps they met when they both were ready to settle down.
I always thought she made a good pick with him…someone not in the business…with his own money…who don’t mind letting her shine & providing the support on the backend where she CAN shine the way she wants
Isn’t “Ned” a short form for Edward? It brings me back to Eddard/Ned Stark, lol.
Since 2012?! Damn, that flew by, I thought it’s been 5 years tops
Why did he change his last name to Rocknroll in the first place? I was always curious about the origins of his name, and had no idea he came from a Posh background.
He’s Richard Branson’s nephew.
But isn’t Branson self made? I didn’t think he was born into the aristocracy, but maybe I am wrong.
I must ask..does he actually have his own money? I have noticed the English old money/aristocrat crowd dont really have money and its their title and connections that they live off. Compared to their American counterparts of heirs/heiresses who really get to enjoy the family money.
Edward is the nephew of billionaire Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin, so in short yes there’s money beyond the titles.
If I’m not mistaken, he is Richard Branson’s nephew and had a ‘nephew’ job that paid very well at one of the Virgin companies for a while.
I’m pretty sure he ‘worked’ at Virgin Galactic with Beatrice’s ex Dave Clark
Not to brag or anything!
Yeah he’s very cute , and I love that she mentioned him being a caring sahd, that needs to be normalized
He is Richard Branson’s nephew
His choice of last name destroys the hot for me, sorry
I always love Kate for answering when asked “is your son’s last name Rocknroll?” she was like, “no, it’s Winslet, I’m not insane.”
Wow
Always think it’s cool when a woman has a stay-at-home husband!
I thought this was a very strange choice when she announced it and I will happily eat crow. They seem like a great match.
It’s nice to hear about happy times in celebrity marriages too.
I didn’t think it would last but they seem fine. It’s great he’s a stay at home dad, although they probably have a bevy of nannies and maybe he’s more of a gentleman farmer. I do think she got pretty unlucky in her first two relationships, wasn’t Mendes a known cheater?
He is a good-looking guy. They do seem happy. I just bingewatched Mare of Easttown thanks to all of the glowing reviews on here by CBers. I loved it. Kate is one of my favorite actresses. I find she is in a very small group of actors that are very widely-known, yet can make me completely forget that because of how much they disapperar into the characters they play every single time. She completely inhabited this character and really works so well with all of the other actors. I really liked the commentary at the end of the finale where they talk about how Kate really helped create that character as she took on the role. She’s really a brilliant actor. I loved her in The Reader for that very reason. I forgot she was Kate Winslet the famous actress. Many actors keep using the same tricks and so as time goes on you aren’t as blown away by their acting as you were for the first part of their career. But Kate continues to surprise me.
Jean Smart. I don’t even know where to begin, but I completely adored her in this role. Julianne Nicolson did a fantastic job.
With some of the botoxed and puffy cheeks actresses these days who are obssessed with erasing even the lines they had in their 30s, these actresses went the extra mile and had no vanity.