Kate Winslet used her appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to explain why she saddled her three-month-old son with the name ” Bear Blaze Winslet.”
Kate, 38, said that, actually, it wasn’t only her decision, and that the name was selected by her other children, Mia Honey Threapleton, 13, and Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes,10, who are the result of her previous marriages to film directors Sam Mendes and Jim Threapleton.
The Oscar winning actress told Ellen DeGeneres in the interview shown on Tuesday:
“We were thinking about names during the pregnancy and actually I had never — when I was pregnant with Mia, when I was pregnant with Joe — I didn’t name them before they came out because I always felt like I had to see them and see who they’re going to be.
Of course this time around, there’s Mia and Joe and the whole pregnancy is about what are we going to call the baby.”
Kate liked the idea of including her other children in the naming ritual, and said that they decided on the name ” Bear” because it reminded her of the character of a good friend she had when she was younger.
The middle name of ” Blaze” came from a rather unfortunate incident involving the exotic home of Richard Branson on his private island of Necker in the British Virgin Islands.
What is the connection?
Winslet met her third husband, Ned Rocknroll, (Bear’s father) after his uncle’s home was destroyed by fire. And Ned’s uncle is none other than Richard Branson!
Kate explained it like this: “And then Bear’s second name is Blaze because my husband and I met in a house fire basically… and the house burned down and we survived. But we wanted something of the fire.”
Winslet married Rocknroll – original name, Abel Smith, – in December 2012. Much as she seems to be taken with exotic names, she drew the line at giving Bear his father’s new surname.
Kate’s main purpose in being with Ellen was to promote her new film, “Divergent,” in which she plays a real “baddie,” as she put it.
She was also able to celebrate the fact that, this week, she got her very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Winslet said at the ceremony that she was overwhelmed at the attendance in view of the earthquake earlier in the day.
She continued:
“I feel very honored, 20 years into my own career, to be standing in such a poignant place, and being celebrated in such a spectacular fashion. Thank you very much for my star, and thank you very much for having me.”
There is no doubt that Kate Winslet deserves to be honored for her acting. Whether her children grow up to appreciate their strange names is another matter.