BABY NEWS

This page contains news items and feature articles about Kate's daughter,

Mia Honey Threapleton, born October 12, 2000

Photos of Mia, and of Kate while expecting, are on a separate page.

 

 

 

 

 

July 29: Kate and Mia attended the Reading music festival:

"Kate Winslets Herself Go With Baby Mia"

Film star Kate Winslet showed how much she's enjoying her new role as mum while clowning around with her eight-month-old daughter, Mia. They were among thousands of revelers at the Womad world music festival in Reading, Berkshire.

The 25-year-old Titanic star, who is married to film director Jim Threapleton, has just finished shooting her latest movie, Iris, about the late author Iris Murdoch. Appropriately she is now in talks to play a mother - Mother Teresa.

 

June 29: Go HERE to read the article, "Kate Winslet Goes on Holiday With Jim and Baby Mia" from OK! magazine. It includes two great photos!

 

June 11: Today's issue of the Daily Mail included a brief article and three great photos of Jim out with Mia. GO!

 

March 5: Thank goodness Mia is all right now! I found this item in today's report from peoplenews.com:
''Kate 'distraught' over baby'' -- Whooping cough ordeal for Mia
Kate Winslet had to race her baby to hospital after she was diagnosed with potentially fatal whooping cough. The 25-year-old was advised to take five-month-old Mia in for treatment and observation. Mia is now healthy and back at home with Winslet and her director husband Jim Threapleton. Friends of the Titanic actress said she had been 'distraught' with worry when she discovered that what she thought was a cold could be far more serious. The incubation period for whooping cough is usually about a fortnight - it starts in the same way as a cold with a runny nose, weeping eyes and a cough. Later the patient suffers coughing fits and vomiting. Mia caught whooping cough despite being immunised against it at the age of two months. A friend of the couple said: 'Kate and Jim made sure she had the injections but Mia still appeared to pick it up.' Winslet had taken time off since Mia was born, but next month she starts work on her next film, which is being shot at Shepperton. The film, a version of Zola's novel Therese Raquin, is a story of murder and illicit passion.

February 3: The Sydney Morning Herald has picked up the wonderful photo of Kate and Mia at the airport and included this article:
"Mama, Mia - Being a Mum Gives Kate a Buzz," by Eddie Fitzmaurice
    Actress Kate Winslet flew into London's Heathrow Airport yesterday proudly displaying her most amazing production yet - four-month-old daughter Mia. The Titanic star, whose latest movie Quills with co-star Geoffrey Rush has just been released in Britain, was returning home from Scotland where she had been visiting friends. And with little Mia tucked up in a baby harness, 25-year-old Kate was a picture of maternal pride.
    Winslet's sights were firmly set on her little girl. "Mia is absolutely gorgeous - she's transformed my world," she said. "She's just had her first flight and she has been so good. Isn't she lovely? We've been in this little baby cocoon since the day she was born. She is so precious that for the first few days we were worried about breaking her, and every nappy change would take 30 minutes. Now it takes 30 seconds. We're getting quicker at these things and realising babies are not as fragile as we think."
    The happy scene was a world away from Winslet's steamy role in Quills, which tells the harrowing story of 18th century French aristocrat the Marquis de Sade. Winslet, twice nominated for an Oscar for her parts in Titanic and Sense And Sensibility, plays a laundry girl at the lunatic asylum where the marquis, played by Rush, is locked up.

The movie has been given an R rating in Britain. Winslet's next movie will be an adaptation of French writer Emile Zola's Therese Raquin, a grisly tale of crime and passion in 19th century Paris.

Here are two more stories that appeared in UK papers February 2nd:
"It's Mama and Mia" - 'Titanic' star Kate Winslet looked radiant yesterday with daughter Mia as she returned from a holiday in Scotland. The actress carried her three-month-old tot through Heathrow in a leather sling after her low-key trip north of the border. It's no secret Kate, 25, loves Scotland, and she and husband Jim Threapleton spent their 1998 honeymoon in Dunoon. Kate recently hit the headlines after saying she needs to slim after Mia's birth. But the extra weight wasn't playing on her mind yesterday, and she looked like a young mum without a care in the world.

 

"Hold Me Tight-anic Mummy" - Titanic star Kate Winslet is in her best role yet - as a mum. Kate, 25, glowed with pride as she flew into London with baby Mia. The actress carried four-month-old Mia in a sling and stroked her fingers as she posed for photos. Kate had been in Glasgow and it was Mia's first flight. The tot seemed a bit bewildered by it all. Don't fret, Mia, you're quite safe with mum. But we wouldn't recommend getting on a boat with her!

January 23: The January 26 issue of OK! Magazine features new pics of Kate walking Mia. The pics, along with the article, are posted on a separate page. Thanks to 'Disposable Heroine' for the tip.

January 7: Kate spoke about Mia and her pregnancy during an interview for the UK Sunday Times Magazine:

    Within a matter of minutes, and quite unbidden, Kate Winslet is showing me her knickers - big, black, high-waisted ones with a special tummy-control panel from Marks & Spencer. "Nothing fits any more," she announces, running me through the maternity jacket and trousers and the oversized white shirt that have been her posh get-up since her much publicised pregnancy. She gained four stone - and produced the 8lb-9oz reason why none of this matters, why she laughs as she prods her rounded stomach. Her three-week-old daughter, Mia, is being taken for a walk by her father, while Kate remembers how to play an actress promoting her new film. Although she is as willing and companionable as ever - Winslet is the best sport of film stars - her heart isn't in it. We find ourselves talking against an immutable deadline: not a dragon PR with a stopwatch, but a hungry baby wanting her feed, calling to the new mother with a telepathy the latter cannot resist. Sweet, but she is here to discuss revolting sexual practices [in her new film].
    [She is] far more interested in discussing her water retention. Her pregnancy was joyful but also fraught; she found it impossible to bond with her baby in the early stages, swelled up like a balloon, and could not have fitted her naked bump on the cover of a glossy magazine a la Demi Moore even if she had been asked, which we can reasonably assume she was not. "There is a lot of pressure to have a sexy, womanly, fulfilling pregnancy, but I didn't feel like that. I was huge, massive. I put on four stone. I'm still two stone overweight. I held a lot of water and I was very uncomfortable. Mia was 10 days late and by then I was climbing the walls. The birth was natural, and somehow I just coped with the pain. It was the most amazing experience from start to finish. Jim was with me the whole time. As soon as she was out I thought, 'I want to do that again, I'll do that any day.'" For someone who can work as little as 12 weeks a year, there are no pressing concerns of "palming her off" on a nanny. The couple will take it in turns to stay at home, and Winslet is highly unlikely to accept offers that take her further than short-haul trips for a while. "Sometimes Jim and I just look at each other, and go, 'Oh God! We're doing all this and we're so young!' It's great, but we don't think about it too much because it freaks us out."
    When her leave period is up she will produce and star in Therese Raquin, Zola's grisly depiction of crime and passion among the Parisian lower classes. It is, she says earnestly, all about love that sours to hate and murder, and proof to Winslet that having a baby has not softened her taste for a racy challenge.

January 7, 2001: Kate says Mia is a 'fun baby' during an interview for the Radio Times:
Some visitors are drinking coffee at the kitchen table, and when Mia begins to cry she tells Threapleton there's freshly expressed breast milk in the fridge. "She's a real fun baby. Some are well fed up with life from the beginning, but she's delighted to be here. Motherhood beats anything hands down."

December 8: This brief article is from a recent issue of NOW Magazine, and was accompanied by pics you'll find in the Mia Gallery:
Kate's in great shape for all those late nights - Kate Winslet's always scoffed at the idea that all actresses need to be skinny stereotypes. But she's making sure that she gets back in shape after the birth of her daughter Mia last month. Kate, 25, was accompanied by husband, film director Jim Threapleton, and a very well wrapped-up Mia in her car seat for a trip to a Pilates class in South London. Jim, 26, was happy to carry Mia and check that she was keeping warm as the couple left to return to their home, a converted pumphouse by the River Thames in Surrey.

November 21: "Celebrity News" has published today comments from Kate taken from a recent interview:
"Kate Winslet In Own Baby World" -- British actress Kate Winslet has lost touch with reality since the birth of her daughter Mia. Kate has revealed she's been totally obsessed with motherhood since giving birth to her first child last month. She gushes, "Mia's teeny-weeny and she's always not very far away. My mind has been so much on her that it's bizarre to find myself re-engaging with the real world. She's absolutely gorgeous. She's transformed my world." Hubby Jim Threapleton is equally wrapped up in the baby Kate calls, "my most amazing production yet." The proud mum laughs, "We've been in this little baby cocoon since the day she was born. Jim is brilliant with her and there are times when I look at him with her and wish I could be as good as he is."

November 14: I found this mention of Kate in the Guardian:
"Life After Birth" -- It is true that [Meg] Mathews' apparent post-natal haste to return to the party scene does not fit with our tender image of the rosily radiant new mother. Kate Winslet, by contrast, fits perfectly. "I'm a lot less hectic than I was," she said last week in her first interview since her daughter's birth in October. "I've stopped smoking and I've become a much calmer, softer person. I'm becoming much more squishy and emotional." I've always appreciated Kate Winslet as a figure - boldly three-dimensional and messy in a world of personally trained, tightly smiling x-rays. But I'm not so sure about this latest, madonna-like incarnation - I don't think motherhood makes very many women "less hectic"... In fact, I think motherhood makes you tougher… Even Kate Winslet may well, in a week's time, need to put the baby down for half an hour while she gets some sleep.

November 10: The UK Express picked up some quotes from the recent interview published in the Mirror:
Kate Winslet, who gave birth to a daughter, Mia, last month, will be choosing her future projects carefully to ensure she will be able to spend as much time as possible at home with the baby. "It's very important that Mia isn't bundled off to film locations," she says. "I won't be working for about six months and when I do it will be near home." The 25-year-old actress, who is married to assistant film director Jim Threapleton, will begin work in the spring on the period drama Therese Raquin, which she is also producing. "It will be filmed at Shepperton which is only half an hour from where I live," she said.

November 9: The Sydney Morning Herald carried a story about Kate's appearance at the London Film Festival last week:
New mum Kate Winslet was all smiles when she made her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter - but said she hated having to leave baby Mia at home. The Titanic star was in London's West End for the premiere of her new movie Quills. But she said it was "horrible being parted" from little Mia, who was born just three weeks ago and who was being looked after by her father, film director Jim Threapleton. "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy," Winslet said. While she enjoyed working on the film she now intended to take seven months off to spend some time with her husband and new born child. "Motherhood will always come first," she said.

November 8: I found this mention of Kate at the London Film Festival in an online tabloid:
"Winslet Says Mum's The Word"
Kate Winslet was beaming this week as she arrived at the London Film Festival premiere of her new movie Quills, in which she plays a maid to the Marquis de Sade. This was her first public appearance since giving birth to her baby daughter Mia, and she told Independent Televison News that she hated having to leave the infant at home. Winslet said it was "horrible being parted" from little Mia, who was born just three weeks ago and who was being looked after by her father, film director Jim Threapleton. "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy," Winslet told ITN.  While she enjoyed working on the film she now intended to take seven months off to spend some time with her husband and new born child. "Motherhood will always come first," she said. Quills also stars Sir Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush and was directed by Philip Kaufman.

November 4: From The Sun:

"Star Kate's Gone Totless"
Kate Winslet went totless at a film premiere last night - by turning up without her new baby Mia. Kate, 25, told fans it felt "really horrible" leaving Mia behind. Her trip to a screening of her new movie Quills was her first public outing since the birth. Co-stars Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix joined Kate at the West End premiere.

 

November 4: From Sky News:
"Kate's Great - Despite Missing Mia"
    Kate Winslet braved the cold to make her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter. The star thrilled crowds at the premiere of Quills, the latest movie to take centre stage within the London Film Festival. Yet wearing a black top and trousers and floor length satin jacket, she admitted it was a wrench to leave Mia behind - and confessed she was taking seven months off to spend time with her.
    'Children most important thing'  -- She said: "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy. Motherhood will always come first. Children are the most important thing to me. It's just not about being a famous actor. It's about privacy and my own life - and now Mia."
   Winslet was joined by co-stars Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix, who larked about for the scores of gathered fans.  

    Quills, directed by Philip Kaufman, is based on the life of the notorious Marquis de Sade, and is already attracting talk of Oscar nominations next spring. The 25-year-old Titanic star plays Madeline LeCrec, who smuggles the Marquis de Sade's last writings out of a mental asylum.
    Winslet gave birth to Mia last month at a London hospital. She married husband Jim Threapleton nearly two years ago in Oxfordshire.
    The London Film Festival has had a great start with British premieres for Cameron Crowe's much-hyped Almost Famous and the latest Merchant Ivory offering, The Golden Bowl.

November 4: From ITN News:
"New Mum Kate Winslet Steps Out"
    New mum Kate Winslet was all smiles when she made her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter - but said she hated having to leave baby Mia at home. The Titanic star was in London's West End for the premiere of her new movie Quills.  Her smile was beaming as she arrived at the Odeon West End in Leicester Square wearing a black top and trousers and floor length satin jacket. But she said it was "horrible being parted" from little Mia, who was born just three weeks ago and who was being looked after by her father, film director Jim Threapleton. "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy," Winslet said. While she enjoyed working on the film she now intended to take seven months off to spend some time with her husband and new born child. "Motherhood will always come first," she said. In the film, about the Marquis de Sade, Winslet plays a chambermaid.
    Quills also stars Sir Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush and was directed by Philip Kaufman. Sir Michael said he had very much enjoyed working on the rather "dark" movie. It also stars the brother of River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, who said it was a "real honour" to work with such a distinguished actor as Sir Michael.
    The premiere was screened as part of the 44th London Film Festival.

November 4: From Yahoo! News -- Kate talks about her "perfect family":
"Kate Winslet tells of her changing priorities"
    LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Kate Winslet, star of the international blockbuster "The Titanic", has made her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter Mia three weeks ago. The 25-year-old star, who is married to film worker Jim Threapleton, 26, was attending the premier of her latest film Quills at a London theatre.
    Winslet told Sky News that her daughter would always come first. "Children are the most important thing to me," she said. "It's not about being a famous actor, it's not about working all the time -- to me it's always been about privacy and my own life and now especially having Mia that's the most important thing and that should always come first. Winslet is taking a seven-month break from her acting career to be with her baby.
    Quills, which also stars Geoffrey Rush and Michael Caine, is based on the final years of the Marquis de Sade, when he was imprisoned in a lunatic asylum for writing about sexual perversion and torture. Winslet plays a maid who helps smuggle de Sade's writings out of the asylum.
    On Friday, Winslet said Mia had inherited her eyes and nose. "The rest of her is Jim -- her eyes and her expressions are very definitely Jim's," she told the Daily Mail. "She's gorgeous. It's the most amazing thing. Before it was just Jim and me and now it's Jim, me and Mia and it feels the most natural thing in the world -- the perfect family."

November 4: From today's UK Times:
"Winslet's Best Role is Being a Mother," by Elizabeth Judge
Kate Winslet, the actress, arrived at the premiere for her new film last night and confirmed the latest fashion for Hollywood actresses - motherhood. Making her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter, Mia, Winslet, star of the film Titanic, said that she did not like being parted from her child. "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her Daddy," she said.
In Quills Winslet plays a maid who helps to smuggle the Marquis de Sade's erotic literature out of an asylum. It also stars Sir Michael Caine as a doctor and Geoffrey Rush as the marquis. Winslet said that although she enjoyed filming, motherhood would always come first. She intends to take seven months off to spend time with her husband, the film director Jim Threapleton, and their daughter.

 

November 3: News of Kate's appearance at the London premiere of Quills, from Ananova:
     New mum Kate Winslet was all smiles as she made her first public appearance since the birth of her daughter - but she said she hated having to leave baby Mia at home. The Titanic star was in London's West End for the premiere of her new movie Quills. Her smile was beaming as she arrived at the Odeon West End in Leicester Square wearing a black top and trousers and floor length satin jacket.But it was "horrible being parted" from little Mia, who was born just three weeks ago and who was being looked after by her father, film director Jim Threapleton. "It's horrible, really awful, she is back at the hotel with her daddy," Winslet said. While she enjoyed working on the film she now intended to take seven months off to spend some time with her husband and new born child. "Motherhood will always come first," she said.
    In the film about the Marquis de Sade, which was being screened as part of the 44th London Film Festival, Winslet plays a chambermaid. Quills also stars Sir Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush and was directed by Philip Kaufman. Sir Michael said he had very much enjoyed working on the rather "dark" movie. It also stars Joaquin Phoenix, who said it was a "real honour" to work with such a distinguished actor as Sir Michael.

October 19: I found this nice item on WENN about Kate's and Jim's commitment to baby Mia. Kate's comments are taken from an article published in the November issue of Interview magazine:
"Kate Winslet's Husband Becomes Stay-At-Home Dad"
New mum Kate Winslet's husband Jim Threapleton is going to become a stay-at-home father, so he can bring up baby Mia while Winslet works. Kate, who gave birth to her first child last week, says she's not going to hire any nannies to look after her daughter - she and her husband are going to do it all themselves. Winslet says, "We're hoping not to have child care, certainly in the early months. I know some actors that do three movies a year, and I've just never done that. So I'm not concerned that the work-load will lessen because I'm suddenly a mother, it'll probably remain about the same. When I'm doing Therese Raquin next year, Jim is not going to work, so he'll be with the baby - which is very important to him." And Winslet adds she's not going to be taking Mia on set with her, because she wants to give her a chance to choose her own career. She says, "I'd hate to influence my children by having them around on set a lot. Children have so much growing up to do before they can really decide what they want to be."

October 18: I found this item in This Is Cornwall:
"Winslet Won't Sell Out On Baby Mia"
Kate Winslet has refused to sell pictures of her new baby, Mia.
The Titanic star proudly posed for free with her daughter and her husband Jim Threapleton - shunning the trend for celebrities selling the first photos of their children to glossy magazines. Instead Winslet, 25, invited photographer Julian Cornish Tresttral to take a picture of the happy family. A friend told The Sun: "She doesn't think of her life in cash terms. She's aware of how much money she could demand but thinks it's tacky to cash in on your children."
A deal with Hello! or OK! could have earnt Winslet and Threapleton up to £500,000. But she is following the example of friend Emma Thompson who rejected offers for pictures of her with daughter Gaia. However other celebrities like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones have cashed in on parenthood. They were paid £600,000 by OK!

October 18: Intermedia has posted the news of Mia's birth on their site:
"Kate Gives Birth to Baby Mia"
Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, which she and husband Jim Threapleton have named Mia. Mia was born in a London hospital on Thursday October 12, and weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces at birth. Mother and baby are fine, and are now back at home.
Winslet's New York-based publicist Robert Garlock told The Associated Press that the name Mia was a spontaneous choice. "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of ten names, but when the baby was born, none of them seemed right," he said. "Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right."
Winslet and Threapleton have a production deal with Intermedia through their Telltale Films company. The actress filmed the wartime code-cracking thriller Enigma with Intermedia this summer, and is also developing historical drama Therese Raquin with the company.

October 18: I found this item on the Ananova news site. The comments by Beth were taken from an interview that appeared earlier this month:
"Winslet Baby Boom 'Like a Disney Story'" --
    Beth Winslet has laughed off suggestions that she has been in a race with sister Kate to become a mum. Beth is expecting next month - just weeks after Kate gave birth to daughter Mia. "It is just a crazy coincidence, like some sort of Walt Disney story," said Beth. But it's odd how this kind of thing happens with sisters or close friends. Everyone gets pregnant together. "I expect I shall pick up a few tips from her but I haven't even started buying baby stuff yet. That's still to come. Our parents are thrilled to bits, really. They are looking forward to Christmas and having lots of babies in the house. It will be funny with the two of us wheeling our prams around together. But it will quite a special time for the whole family."
    Beth, whose new film Bodywork is being released in the UK on Friday, is having her first child with the movie's director Gareth Rhys Jones. "We started talking about it for quite a while. The main reason is that I work with children and have always wanted them. I wouldn't want to leave it too late. I like the idea of having a large family. "
    Beth is thrilled at becoming an auntie and insists there's no rivalry between the Winslet golden girls. Eldest sister Anna is also an actress who concentrates on the stage.

October 17: Here's another take on the no-money-for-baby-picture story from "Anorak":
"Cheap and Cheerful" -
    Where Becks and Posh made some dosh and Michael and Catherine sealed the deal, Kate and Jim have gone all moral. By avoiding the tantalising temptations of media money, Kate Winslet and husband Jim Threapleton have done the "decent" thing, the "honourable" thing, and released pics of them with their new-born girl, Mia, for zilch. That's right, they're not making a single penny from the photos, which the Mirror reveals with a satirical edge. "Hello Mia!" it cries. "You're OK by us, Kate." In having a dig at Britain's most beloved celebrity magazines, the paper is also slamming the plethora of stars who have cashed in on pictures of their children.
    Posh and Becks' £1m from OK! may have been "ludicrous", but the D-list of materialistic mothers and fathers reads like an extract from an Australian 'Who's Who' in the 1780s. "Luciana Morad was paid £200,000 when pictured with her son Lucas," it explains, "while GMTV's Fiona Phillips and husband Martin Frizzell appeared in Hello! with son Nathaniel."
    The message is that it's simply not right for these people to make money on the back of their celeb-status. "But Kate has never been one for making money from her fame," the paper pledges. So she didn't make much from that movie she did! What was it called? Oh yeah, Titanic.
    But if you don't sell the pics, you lose the rights, and out the door goes the trusty "exclusive" caption. Realising this, the Express catches on, but with far less irony. "Kate's girl shows star quality on her film debut," it gushes.
We then get Kate's agent, Robert Garlock, explaining the choice of Mia - "the Italian word meaning 'mine'." But the couple have yet to think of a second name. How about libre? Which poetically translated would mean, 'My Free Threapleton'.
Hmm, there's a difference between accepting money for a photo of your child and accepting money for your own hard work!

October 17: The Sun carried the pic of the happy family, along with this item:
"Kate's Little Blockbuster," by Antonella Lazzeri --
    Titanic star Kate Winslet and hubby Jim Threapleton show off their own little blockbuster yesterday - baby daughter Mia. Actress Kate, 25, gave birth to Mia at a London hospital five days ago. But the tot - who weighed in at a healthy 8lb 9oz - made her first public appearance yesterday as the happy couple prepared to return home.
    Last night Kate's mum Sally said the actress was "absolutely over the moon" after becoming a mum. Kate's dad Roger, speaking at the family's home in Reading, Berks, added: "The first grandchild is always very special - and Mia is really very beautiful. Mum and baby are doing just fine although I think Kate wants a bit of time to relax. Mia is a gorgeous child but we're not quite sure who she looks like yet."
    Kate's spokesman said she and Jim, 26, chose Mia because they thought it was "a really beautiful name".
    She is planning a break from films.

October 17: This is the coverage from E! Online:
"A Baby Mia For Kate Winslet," by Emily Farache
Oct 16, 2000, 11:00 AM PT
    A stork delivery of titanic proportions has happened across the pond. British actress Kate Winslet and her husband Jim Threapleton gave birth to a baby girl, Mia, her agent Robert Garlock said. Both mother and daughter are reportedly doing well.
    The 25-year-old star gave birth in London last Thursday. "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names but when the baby was born, none of them seemed right," Garlock told Reuters. "Then Mia came to them and it seemed just right. There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name."
    Winslet is taking a seven-month break from her acting career to be with her baby. The young actress, who starred with American heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio in the Academy Award-winning blockbuster Titanic, has said her career will not come before family.  "I've never been one for changing what is real in order to make my career buzz," she said in March. Winslet said she had no fears about motherhood disrupting her movie work. "My career comes second. There are some actors who do back-to-back jobs and are anxious when others are in the limelight. That's not me."
    In August, she and her husband, 26, moved into a $1.17 million riverside home in southern England.
Winslet met her husband on the set of the movie Hideous Kinky in 1997, where Threapleton served as assistant director. The couple married in November 1998.
    The actress has two films yet to hit theaters--Quills, about the life of the Marquis de Sade, and Enigma, about a race against time to decipher a code during World War II.

October 17: I found this great story in the Daily Record:
"Just Priceless" - Kate refuses to charge for baby photos --
Titanic star Kate Winslet and her husband Jim proudly show off their newborn daughter Mia. But unlike others in the showbiz world who cash in on their private lives at every turn, the couple's first baby photos were free. This intimate photograph could easily have fetched up to half a million pounds from a Hello! or an OK! style glossy magazine. But for down-to-earth Kate, 25, and 26-year-old husband Jim Threapleton, the images of little Mia were priceless.
    The actress invited her photographer pal Julian Cornish Tresttral to her room at a private London hospital and the couple happily posed with their first child.
    It was a far cry from Posh and Becks who were paid pounds 1million for OK! to photograph their wedding. The multi-millionaire duo also received another six-figure sum when they introduced Brooklyn to the world. Another proud mum, Men Behaving Badly star Caroline Quentin, showed off baby Emily Rose for pounds 200,000 alongside husband Sam Farmer. Mick Jagger's mistress Luciana Morad got the same sum for her own glossy shoot with son Lucas. An Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones and David Bowie and his supermodel wife Iman also pocketed fortunes for posing with their new babies.
    Yesterday, straightforward Kate shunned money and just wanted the world to share her delight.
Mia was born last Thursday weighing 8lb 9oz.
    In November 1998 when she married Jim, Kate also shunned offers for exclusive rights to her wedding pics.  Instead she gathered her fiends and family around her at the family church in her hometown of Reading and happily posed for the cameras.
    A friend said: "Kate just isn't one of those people who thinks of her entire life in cash terms. But the bottom line is Kate thinks it's just tacky to cash in on your own children as some have done."

October 17: A similar article appears in the Mirror:
HELLO MIA! TITANIC ACTRESS KATE WINSLET AND HUSBAND JIM THREAPLETON PRESENT THEIR FIRST CHILD --
AND HERE ARE SOME OF THOSE WHO DID TAKE THE MONEY
    Actress Kate Winslet and husband Jim Threapleton pose proudly with their latest production - baby daughter Mia. And unlike many showbiz stars, down-to-earth Kate refused to turn motherhood into a profit-making venture by selling the picture to a glossy magazine.  A deal with Hello! or OK! style publications could have earned her up to pounds 500,000.  But instead, Kate, 25, yesterday invited photographer pal Julian Cornish Tresttral to take this charming picture at the private hospital in London where she had Mia. For Titanic beauty Kate, the joy of starting a family with film director Jim, 26, was reward enough. So in her honour we've displayed the family's first picture in a special page, left, that celebrates her refusal to cash in.
    Kate's friend Emma Thompson also rejected offers for snaps of her with daughter Gaia, and Zoe Ball and DJ husband Norman Cook said no to a deal over their wedding. Their approach was in stark contrast to other celebrities. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones - who have a combined fortune estimated at more than pounds 200million - were paid pounds 600,000 by OK! for photos of them with baby son Dylan. David and Victoria Beckham may be a pounds 25million couple, but were happy to take pounds 1million from OK! for wedding photos and another six-figure sum when they showed baby Brooklyn to the world. Mick Jagger's mistress Luciana Morad was paid up to pounds 200,000 when pictured with son Lucas, while GMTV's Fiona Phillips and husband Martin Frizzell appeared in Hello! with son Nathaniel. Coronation Street's Tina Hobley and her husband Steve Wallington cashed in by posing with baby Isabelle. And Tina's colleague James Gaddas - builder Vinny Sorrell in the soap - also got in on the act when wife Deborah gave birth to daughter Cate.
    But Kate has never been one for making money from her fame. In 1998 she and Jim shunned offers for exclusive rights to their wedding pictures. A friend said "Kate doesn't think of her entire life in cash terms. She's aware of how much money she could demand but thinks it's tacky to cash in on your children."

October 17: I found this article in the UK Telegraph. Roger Winslet reveals there is no middle name chosen yet for Mia, and there were no complications to the birth:
    Kate Winslet is to take a seven-month break from her Hollywood career to be with her daughter, Mia. Motherhood, she said, was more important than stardom.  The 25-year-old star of Titanic, who married Jim Threapleton, 26, the son of an RAF officer, two years ago, was particularly happy, she said, because her sister, Beth, had just found out that she was pregnant. Robert Garlock, Winslet's New York agent, said: "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born, none of them seemed right. Then Mia, from the Italian 'mine', came to them, and it seemed just right. There is no family significance. They just thought it a beautiful name."
    Her father, Roger, said at the family home in Reading: "We are naturally over the moon about the birth. The first grandchild is always special and she is beautiful." He said that the baby, 8lb 9oz, was born on Thursday without complications. "Both are going fine, although I think Kate needs a bit of time to relax. We love the name of Mia. They haven't thought of a second name yet."
    Winslet met her husband, an assistant film director, on the set of Hideous Kinky in Morocco. They have established a production company, Telltale Films, to develop and produce British and European films. She said: "I adore babies and children, and Jim and I want three or four."
[I don't understand the reference to Beth, as she is due next month!]

October 17: Here's the UK Times version of the "special delivery" story:
"Winslet Shows Off New Baby Mia," by Adam Sherwin
The actress Kate Winslet showed off her newborn baby daughter Mia yesterday, before returning home from hospital with the child. The star of Titanic chose the name, which comes from the Italian word meaning "mine", after giving birth to the 8lb 9oz baby on Thursday morning. Winslet, 25, and her husband Jim Threapleton, 26, an assistant film director, had been caring for the child in a London hospital since the birth and were given permission to return home yesterday.
Winslet's agent, Robert Garlock, said: "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of ten names but when the baby was born none of them seemed right. Then `Mia' came to them and it seemed just right. There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name. Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and that they are all doing very well."
Winslet was said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so that she can spend time with her first child.
She married her husband two years ago after they met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco. Winslet kept busy with work up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed the war drama Enigma, based on the bestselling Second World War story by Robert Harris, which is due for release next year.

October 16: The television entertainment news programs E! News Daily and Entertainment Tonight announced Mia's arrival, but did not show the new pic of baby and parents. Access Hollywood did not carry the news in tonight's edition.

October 16: I found this story on ITN:
"Kate And Baby Ready To Go Home"
Hollywood star Kate Winslet and her producer husband Jim Threapleton are preparing to bring their little daughter home from hospital. Baby Mia was born last week, weighing in at 8lb 9oz.
The 25-year-old Titanic actress chose the name after deciding none of the names she had short-listed were suitable. Winslet's agent Robert Garlock said: "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born none of them seemed right.  Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right.  There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name." He added: "Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and that they are all doing very well."

Winslet was said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so she can raise her daughter.
Kate, who is from Reading in Berkshire, and 26-year-old Jim married two years ago after meeting during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco.
Winslet was working right up until Mia's birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed the war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
And during the summer, she bought a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.
Kate and Jim have already announced they plan to have several children.

October 16: From BBC News:
"Winslet Shows Off Mia"
Actress Kate Winslet has released the first picture of her baby Mia [see top of this page], who was born on Thursday.
The 25-year-old Titanic star and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, were due to leave hospital on Monday with Mia, who weighed 8lb 9oz when she was born at a London hospital.

Winslet's New York-based agent Robert Garlock said they had ruled out a list of names before deciding on Mia, which comes from the Italian word meaning "mine". "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born none of them seemed right," he said. "Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right. There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name."
On Monday, Winslet's parents Roger and Sally said they were thrilled with news of their first grandchild. "We are naturally over the moon about it," Roger said. "The first grandchild is always very special and she is really beautiful." They are due a second grandchild soon, as their youngest daughter Beth is also expecting a child.
Career break --
Winslet has said she is looking forward to taking a seven-month career break to be with her daughter. In an interview before the pregnancy was announced Winslet said that she considered a happy - and large - family more important than stardom or professional success. She worked almost up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
The new parents will still be keeping busy in the film world with their production company Telltale Films, which aims to develop and produce UK and European-based movies.

October 16: From Ananova news:
"Premiere For Titanic Star's Baby Mia" --
Kate Winslet has been pictured for the first time with baby daughter Mia. [See top of page]

The 25-year-old actress celebrated the birth of her first child with her husband, director Jim Threapleton.
Mia, who was born last Thursday at an undisclosed London hospital, weighed 8lb 9oz (3.3kg).
The birth marks the start of a self-imposed career break for Winslet, who had been busy working on projects up until the last minute.
Quills, her movie with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, receives its world premiere at the London Film Festival on November 3.
The council in Kate's home town of Reading is to name a street in her honour. The site of an old cinema in the town centre will be named Winslet Close.

 

October 16: This is from Entertainment Tonight online:
'Titanic' beauty Kate Winslet is a "mum." She and her husband, assistant director Jim Threapleton, gave birth to an 8lbs, 9oz. baby girl, Mia, on Thursday in England. The 25-year-old actress is a first-time mother.

 

October 16: This item is from Empire Online:
"Winslet's New Addition" -
Oscar-nominated actress Kate Winslet has given birth to her first child. Winslet and her husband, director Jim Threapleton, celebrated the birth of a daughter last Thursday (12 October 2000).  In an announcement by the star's publicist today, the couple revealed that the baby, born in London, will be called Mia.
The birth marks the start of a self-imposed career break for Winslet who's been busy working on projects up until the last minute. Quills, her movie with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix receives its world premiere at the London Film Festival on 3 November 2000.
It's been a good week for Winslet who has just heard that the council in her home town of Reading are about to name a street in her honour. The site of an old cinema in the town centre will be named Winslet Close.

 

A few more of the many online news sites that covered the news of the birth (no new info):
CNN
ABC News
Hollywood.com
People.com
Jam! Showbiz
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Florida Sun-Sentinel
St. Louis Post
Star Tribune
San Jose Mercury News
Salt Lake Tribune
Topeka Capital-Journal
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Washington Post

October 15: I found this coverage of the baby news by the Associated Press - it was picked up by Fox News and the Boston Globe.
"Star of 'Titanic' Gives Birth to Baby Girl"
By Associated Press, 10/15/2000 18:04
LONDON (AP) ''Titanic'' star Kate Winslet and her newborn daughter Mia are doing great and will be leaving the hospital Monday, a publicist for the British actress said Sunday.
Mia who weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, when she was born Thursday at a London hospital is the first child for 25-year-old Winslet and her husband, Jim Threapleton.
The couple met in 1997 on the set of the British film ''Hideous Kinky,'' in which Winslet starred and Threapleton, 26, served as assistant director. They married the next year.
Winslet's New York-based agent Robert Garlock said the choice of the name Mia was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
''Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born none of them seemed right,'' he said. ''Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right.''
Winslet, who spent the summer working on ''Enigma,'' a British film about code-breakers during World War II, reportedly is planning to take a seven-month career break.

October 15: We now know the name and weight! This is from Yahoo! News (via Ananova):
"Winslet Names Daughter Mia" -
    Kate Winslet has named her baby girl Mia, her publicist has revealed.  The 25-year-old actress chose the name - which comes from the Italian word meaning "mine" - after deciding none of the names she had shortlisted were suitable.
    The baby weighed 8lb 9oz after she was born at a London hospital at 5.40am on Thursday, says her New York-based agent Robert Garlock.
    Winslet and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, are still caring for the baby in hospital, but are due to return home tomorrow.
    Mr Garlock said: "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born none of them seemed right. "Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right.  There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name." He added: "Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and that they are all doing very well."
    Winslet was said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so she can raise her daughter.
    Mia is the couple's first child.
[Thanks to Melissa for emailing me with the news!]

October 15: Here's the Mr. Showbiz coverage:
"It's A Girl For Kate Winslet" -
LONDON (Reuters) - British actress Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported on Saturday.  The 25-year-old, who starred alongside American heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit movie Titanic, gave birth to a daughter on Thursday, the paper said. Both mother and daughter are doing well, the paper added.
In August the actress and husband Jim Threapleton, 26, moved into a $1.17 million riverside home in southern England.
Winslet now plans to take a break from her acting career to bring up her daughter, the Daily Mail reported.
In March Winslet said she had no fears about motherhood disrupting her movie career. "I've never been one for changing what is real in order to make my career buzz," she said.  "My career comes second. There are some actors who do back-to-back jobs and are anxious when others are in the limelight. That's not me," she added.
Winslet met her film director husband on the set of the movie Hideous Kinky in 1997. The couple were married in November 1998.

October 15: I found this item in the Sunday People section of the Mirror:
"Kate Grins and Bears" -
Brave movie star Kate Winslet refused a pain-killing injection when she had her first baby last week. Before the arrival of her daughter, the 25-year-old Titanic star insisted: "Women were made to give birth without epidurals and the rest, so they should bloody well get on with it. "If I need help I will call my acupuncturist."
Kate, 25, and director hubby Jim Threapleton, 26, haven't yet decided on a name for their little girl.
[Keep in mind - this story is in - the Mirror.]

October 14: Still no more details on the baby (name, weight, etc.) as of 7:30 AM PDT. The Sun claims that a name hadn't yet been chosen.

CNN "Headline News" just (7:25 AM PDT) ran the baby story, giving the same brief info from the Daily Mail.

I know the news stories all contain the same info, but I'm posting them so you can see a sampling of many papers/news sites covered the story:

October 14: From the Sun:

Screen star Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, it was announced today.
The 25-year-old actress and her tot are both doing well following the birth on Thursday.
The couple have not chosen a name for their daughter yet.
Kate was also said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so she can raise her daughter.
The baby is the first child for Titanic star Kate and her director hubbie Jim Threapleton, 26.
The couple married two years ago and met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco.
Brave Kate kept working right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
And during the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.

 

October 14: The story from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
"Winslet Gives Birth to her own 'Heavenly Creature'" -
Titanic star Kate Winslet has given birth to her first child, a baby girl, The Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
It said the 25-year-old British actress was now planning for a seven-month career break following the birth on Thursday.
Mother and baby are said to be doing well and there was no indication as to the baby's name. Winslet met her director husband, Jim Threapleton, 29 [oops, wrong age!], two years ago in Morocco during the filming of Hideous Kinky. She kept herself busy during her pregnancy and at five months pregnant was still filming the war drama Enigma, based on a top-selling World War II book about British code-breakers. Her character was also scripted to give birth.

October 14: The same story appeared in the Houston Chronicle:
"Titanic Star Gives Birth to Girl" -
Titanic star Kate Winslet has given birth to her first child, a girl, the Daily Mail reported Saturday. It said the 25-year-old British actress was now planning for a seven-month career break after the birth Thursday. Mother and baby were said to be doing well. There was no indication as to the baby's name. Winslet met her director husband, Jim Threapleton, 29, two years ago during the filming of Hideous Kinky. At five months pregnant she was filming the war drama Enigma. Her character was also scripted to give birth.

October 14: Tamara of Dougray Net emailed me these stories that she found early this morning:

From the UK Times:

Winslet has baby  -
Kate Winslet, the star of Titanic, has given birth to a baby girl. The 25-year-old actress and her daughter were said to be both doing well after the birth on Thursday. It is the first child for the actress and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26.

From PR Newswire Europe Limited:
"Titanic Star Has Baby Girl," by Simon Mowbray, PA News
Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, it was reported today.
The 25-year-old actress and her daughter are both doing well following the birth on Thursday, said the Daily Mail.
Miss Winslet was also said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so she can raise her daughter.
It is a first child for Titanic star Miss Winslet and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26.
The couple married two years ago and met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco.
Miss Winslet kept herself busy right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
And during the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.

From Agence France Presse:
Baby girl for "Titanic" star Kate Winslet -
"Titanic" star Kate Winslet has given birth to her first child, a baby girl, the Daily Mail reported Saturday.
It said the 25-year-old British actress was now planning for a seven-month career break following the birth Thursday. Mother and baby were said to be doing well.
There was no indication as to the baby's name.
Winslet met her director husband, Jim Threapleton, 29, two years ago in Morocco during the filming of "Hideous Kinky."
She kept herself busy during her pregnancy.
At five months pregnant she was filming the war drama "Enigma," based on a top-selling World War II book about British code-breakers. Her character was also scripted to give birth.

October 13: Here is the story from the UK Telegraph. (So far, all of the news sites have based their stories on the original info from the Daily Mail.) No details yet.
"Kate Winslet Doing Well After Giving Birth To Girl," by Sam Wallace --
The actress Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl.
She and her daughter are both said to be doing well following the birth on Thursday. Miss Winslet, 25, was also said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so that she can care for her daughter. It is a first child for Miss Winslet, who starred in Titanic, and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26.
The couple married two years ago and met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco. Miss Winslet was busy right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed the war drama Enigma. During the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.
She is the latest in a line of celebrities, including Madonna, Catherine Zeta Jones, Emma Thompson, and the All Saints star Melanie Blatt to have children.

October 13: BBC News has just added this story to their site:
Saturday, 14 October, 2000, 02:26 GMT
"Baby girl for Kate Winslet"
Winslet and Threapleton celebrate their first child -
Actress Kate Winslet is reported to have given birth to a baby girl.  The Titantic star is now planning to take a seven-month career break to be with her daughter.
Further details of the weight or name of her first child with director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, have not been released. But both are reported to have been doing well since the birth on Thursday.
Winslet, 25, married her husband two years ago after meeting during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco in 1997.
Large family plans
She was the star and he an assistant director.
In an interview before the pregnancy was announced Winslet said that she considered a happy - and large - family more important than stardom or professional success.
The actress, who has also starred in Holy Smoke and Sense and Sensibility, kept herself busy right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
During the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.
The new parents will be keeping busy in the film world with their new production company Telltale Films which aims to develop and produce UK and European-based films.

October 13: Here's the story from Ananova news! (This was the first story about the birth that we found online.)
"Baby Girl For Titanic Star Kate" -
Star of the film Titanic Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl.
The 25-year-old actress and her daughter are both doing well following the birth on Thursday.
Miss Winslet is said to be looking forward to a seven-month career break so she can raise her daughter.
It is a first child for Miss Winslet and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26.
The couple married two years ago and met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco.
Miss Winslet kept herself busy right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
And during the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.

Here's the story from Sky News:
"Titanic Love - Kate Winslet Gives Birth To Baby Girl"
Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, it has been reported.
The 25-year-old actress and her daughter are both doing well after the birth on Thursday, the Daily Mail reported.
Kate was said to be planning a seven-month career break so she can get to known her daughter.
Cornwall and pump house homes -
It is a first child for the Titanic star and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26. The couple married two years ago after meeting on the filmset of Hideous Kinky in Morocco.
Kate bought a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house by the Thames in London during the summer.
And she kept herself busy, filming an adaptation of a Robert Harris war story, Enigma.

Here's the way the news looked on the BBC News homepage:

 

From Yahoo! News:
Friday October 13 9:19 PM ET
"Titanic Star Winslet Gives Birth to Girl - Paper
LONDON (Reuters) - British actress Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported on Saturday.
The 25-year-old, who starred alongside U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit movie "Titanic,'' gave birth to a daughter on Thursday, the paper said.
Both mother and daughter are doing well, the paper added.
In August the actress and husband Jim Threapleton, 26, moved into a $1.17 million riverside home in southern England.
Winslet now plans to take a break from her acting career to bring up her daughter, the Daily Mail reported.
In March Winslet said she had no fears about motherhood disrupting her movie career. "I've never been one for changing what is real in order to make my career buzz,'' she said. "My career comes second. There are some actors who do back-to-back jobs and are anxious when others are in the limelight. That's not me,'' she added.
Winslet met her film director husband on the set of the movie "Hideous Kinky'' in 1997. The couple were married in November 1998.

October 7: Karen emailed me this news story from Entertaindom:
BABY ON BOARD: Actress Kate Winslet will have to have her baby induced if she does not give birth by this weekend. The "Titanic" star was due to give birth to her first baby with husband Jim Threapleton on September 25 -- but is still sporting her bump. And a gynecologist says if the baby doesn't come naturally by Sunday it will need some encouragement from doctors. He says, "When a baby is 14 days past its due date it is normal practice to induce the baby, as this is safest for the baby and the mother. So if Kate is not in the hospital giving birth this weekend she will have to go on Monday and be seen by a midwife. She certainly looks ready to have the baby and probably can't wait as things are definitely getting uncomfortable for her with the weight of the baby and the associated discomfort found in the later stages of pregnancy." A friend of Kate's confirms she is eagerly awaiting the baby's arrival, saying, "She looks ready to burst and can't wait to hold her first child in her arms. She has loved being pregnant but just wants the baby to be born now."


October 2: Karen emailed me the text of an item on Kate from the October 4 issue of Now magazine. The pic used is the same pic from People magazine.
"ANY DAY NOW FOR KATE TO BE A MUM FOR THE FIRST TIME" --
Whatever Kate Winslet had just been told, as she emerged from a hospital in north London last week, it was obviously good news. The Titanic actress is counting the days until the arrival of her first child, which is due next week. Presumably a last minute check up showed everything was going to plan. Kate, 24, and her husband film director Jim Threapleton, 26, will be taking their new baby back to their rather unusual home - an old pumphouse overlooking the River Thames. The £250.000 three-storey house, converted four years ago, dates back to the '30s. However, it doesn't boast the most salubrious surroundings - it faces the entrance to a waterworks strewn with rubbish, including the remains of two burnt out cars. Sounds like a Guy Ritchie film set.

 

October 2: Tamara of Dougray Net emailed me an article from a previous issue of the Daily Mail. Here's an excerpt:
Even before she knew she was a mum-to-be, her body began a cleanup operation. "We were in New Zealand staying with Peter Jackson, who directed Heavenly Creatures, and we were eating lovely food. But I couldn't swallow the wine - it tasted like vinegar to me. So I stopped drinking alcohol. I knew there was something weird going on but couldn't fathom out what. When we got back to London, I went to see the doctor and, hey presto, found out I was pregnant," she beams. "It's nicer when fate gives you a shove in the right direction. We weren't going to wait much longer, anyway, before having a child. I suppose you think: 'Oh, I'll make one more movie and then have my baby.' But you can't plan it like that." Kate hopes the birth will be natural.

September 18: I went to the bookstore today and found this item in the September 12 issue of Hello! magazine. Here's a portion (I chose to not publish the pic of her house for obvious reasons):


September 14: I found this item in Salon's "Nothing Personal" column:
"A Thing For Pain," by Amy Reiter -
So what if people say that giving birth is one of the most painful things in the world? The way Kate Winslet sees it, it couldn't possibly be as painful as, say, starring in "Titanic." That's why she's planning to just say no to drugs when she gives birth to the little baby she's expecting any week now.  "Giving birth is what we're designed to do so we should bloody well get on with it," Winslet bloody well tells the Scottish Daily Record. Besides, she reckons she's a natural for natural childbirth, because "I'm stoical and have a pretty high pain threshold." And while she allows that, if things get really bad, she'll call her acupuncturist for a little shot of relief, she figures she's more than proved her fortitude by appearing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in that big boat film. "I've had a good training for labor with some of my film roles, especially 'Titanic,'" she says, "when I was immersed for days in freezing tanks of water." With preparation like that, who needs Lamaze?

September 12: I found this item in today's Daily Record:
"Kate Points To A Natural Birth" -
    Mum-to-be Kate Winslet is gearing herself up for birth - with just needles to relieve the pain. The Hideous Kinky star - who is due to give birth in three weeks time - will go without drugs and turn to an acupuncturist for pain relief.  She said: "Giving birth is what we're designed to do so we should bloody well get on with it. I'm stoical and have a pretty high pain threshold. If I need any help then we'll ring my acupuncturist."
    The 24-year-old star, who met husband Jim Threapleton, 25, on the set of Hideous Kinky, reckons that acting has prepared her well for the experience of a natural birth. She said: "I've had a good training for labour with some of my film roles, especially Titanic when I was immersed for days in freezing tanks of water."

September 3: Here's a pic of Kate, taken just a few days ago, outside her new home. Thanks to HeavenlyRose for emailing me with the tip!
"Mama Kate" - A pregnant Kate Winslet (her baby with hubby Jim Threapleton is due in September) walks outside her new London abode overlooking the Thames River. (Sygma)
People.com

 

August 30: "Kate's Hideaway" (The Mirror) -
    Mum-to-be Kate Winslet has secretly bought a £800,000 dream house in the country to bring up her baby. The Titantic star and film director husband Jim Threapleton moved in to the converted industrial property just a few weeks ago. The couple, whose first child is due in two weeks time, have spent £80,000 converting the stunning, riverside property in the Home Counties. The four bedroom house with large gallery areas is surrounded by water and can only be reached via a bridge. It has also been fitted with sophisticated alarms and lighting. The high security measures come after a string of email death threats left on Kate's fan club website.
    Kate, 24, has told friends she loves the house especially the river at the bottom of the garden. One said: "It is extremely quiet and miles from anywhere. She is very keen to keep her domestic life as far away from her career as possible."
    Kate and Jim, 26, have been looking for a home to bring up a family since marrying two years ago.
After finishing her new movie Enigma several months ago the star told friends she wants to take a lengthy break from acting. She and Jim moved out of their flat in North London last month and have also bought a £200,000 secluded holiday home in Cornwall.

August 14: I happened to catch a repeat of Friday's "Extra" program this morning. Kate was mentioned in a feature about expectant celebrities; they used one of the May 7 pics. Here are excerpts:
"A star studded baby boom's happening right now in Hollywood, with new momma Madonna having led the pack of pregnant pretties, like Titanic star Kate Winslet... Wow, they're poppin' out all over... Attitudes have changed about stars stomaching their pregnancies in public."

August 12: While reading the news yesterday about the birth of Madonna's son, I came across this line in one story:
She [Madonna] was initially due to have baby Rocco at London's famous Portland Hospital.
    It reminded me of the comment Kate made early in her pregnancy about not choosing the Portland for her delivery:
"It's like my doctor said recently: 'Maybe you should think about where you'd like to have the baby', and I said: 'Not The Portland.' It's a celebrity baby factory (she giggles mischievously). I'm sorry, but it is."
    What did Kate mean by "celebrity baby factory"? Here's a list of a few celebrities who have chosen the Portland:
*Posh Spice Victoria picked London's Portland to have David Beckham's son Brooklyn in March 1999.
*American Jerry Hall had two of her four children by Mick Jagger in London hospitals. Daughter Georgia was born in the Portland in January 1992.
*New Zealand model Rachel Hunter had Rod Stewart's son Liam and daughter Renee in the Portland in June 1992 and September 1994.
*Fergie had both of Prince Andrew's daughters at the Portland - Beatrice in August 1988 and Eugenie in March 1990.
*Patsy Kensit had Oasis star Liam Gallagher's son Lennon in the Portland last September.
*Jemima Khan had cricketer Imran's sons Sulaiman and Kasim in the Portland in November 1996 and April 1999.
*Scary Spice Mel B had Jimmy Gulzar's daughter Phoenix Chi at the Portland in February 1999.

August 10: Mr. Showbiz picked up the 'skinny-dipping' story from the NY Daily News that I reported on the "News" page, adding:
    You'd think that Kate Winslet would be averse to swimming in chilly waters after filming Titanic, but apparently that's not the case.  Spies, who've apparently been surveying the actress's private home on the cinematic Cornish Coast of England (where new Brit comedy Saving Grave was shot), tell the New York Daily News that they've seen Winslet and hubby Jim Threapleton frequently skinny-dipping in the icy waters.
    Good for them. Winslet, who's expecting her first child in late September, and Threapleton deserve a little privacy.  The couple recently purchased a Japanese-style home in the remote area. It can reportedly only be reached by a private bridge and is rumored to have cost the couple $600,000 - chump change by London real estate standards.

August 7: From an Online Mirror article :
"The Descent of Man: Tony Parsons on the Death of Masculinity" -
…The pregnant superstar turns every man into her gynecologist and Kate Winslet, Emma Noble, Meg Mathews, Madonna, Mel B, Melanie Blatt, Helena Christiansen, Patsy Palmer and Demi Moore have all been proud to flaunt the fact they have a bun in the oven. Because fathers have been relegated to the role of distant uncles, the most natural thing in the world - becoming a mother - is now regarded with a sense of wonder and awe.

July 30: I found this item in the Guardian:
"Bumping Along in Style" -
For centuries women had to keep their pregnancy under wraps, but fertility is now the height of fashion, reports Amelia Hill -
Madonna makes it look very easy. Catherine Zeta-Jones is still attending premieres and gala openings with barely a hair out of place, Kate Winslet has yet to stop giggling and, God help us all, Zoe Ball is only beginning… 'It's wonderful to see these women enjoying their pregnancies so wholeheartedly,' said author and columnist Nigella Lawson… There are no idealised images here, just a healthy enjoyment in the state itself… The pregnant stomach might be more fashionable this summer than Versace shades, but it is hardly an exclusive accessory. True, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Madonna and Kate Winslet are all sporting the bow front, while Melinda Messenger, Cherie Booth and Emma Noble have acquired the full-blown baby accessory.
Link to article - Guardian Unlimited

July 19:  From "Celebrity News":
"Kate Moves to Plush New Home" -
Titanic (1997) star Kate Winslet is preparing for motherhood by selling her old apartment and moving into a plush new home. The actress has purchased a house in trendy ***, London, with husband Jim Threapleton just two months before the birth of their first child. And British beauty Kate had a massive clear-out before moving out of her two-bedroom flat in nearby Holloway. A mystery buyer was seen loading up his van with a number of Kate's old items, including her bed, chairs and four surfboards. Her neighbor says, "I saw Kate packing things away and she was surprised at the amount of things that had to be cleared and sorted out." Another neighbor adds, "Kate has been living here for about three years. We'll miss her."

June 16: Anna Winslet commented on Kate's pregnancy during an interview for a Press Association, Ltd. feature:
Anna said Kate, who is expecting her first child, would be visiting soon. "She'll hopefully be coming over in the next couple of weeks. I will be seeing her this weekend, we speak all the time... Anna said her younger sister is reveling in pregnancy. "She's absolutely blooming, totally loving it, she'll be a natural mother. She and Jim are both very impatient for the baby to arrive now."

June 2: I just finished watching (and taping) the segment on "Entertainment Tonight" about pregnant celebrities. It featured two still photographs of Kate on the set of "Enigma" (in costume, padded) -
Host Mary Hart: "Some of Hollywood's top stars are getting ready for a different kind of production - a new baby, and that's our 'Entertainment Tonight' cover story... Kate Winslet is expecting her first child and is working on the film 'Enigma' in London, where her maternal state is being worked into the movie."

From the Daily Record (UK), May 30:
"Sorry But This is as Close as I Can Get" - Kiss Me Kate: Mum-to-be star shows her bump on set of new film:
    Titanic star Kate Winslet looked just swell on the set of her new film, Enigma. Heavily-pregnant Kate, who is expecting her first child in September, recently moaned that her bump was not as big as she wanted it to be. But as these pictures on the movie set show [no pics in the online article, but we know she was padded for that scene!], she is getting so big that she had trouble kissing her Scottish costar Dougray Scott in crucial scenes for the World War II drama. The 24-year-old actress said she was smaller than she had expected to be five months into her pregnancy.  She said: "I know people who got pregnant at the same time and they're huge. I was fully expecting to explode, although I'm sure I will eventually." In Enigma, Kate plays a code breaker called Hester alongside Scott's character - a mathematician who cracks military messages scrambled by the Germans' fiendishly complicated Enigma machine.
    Rolling Stone Mick Jagger yesterday turned up on the London set of the pounds 12 million movie which his company is producing with Intermedia Films. It was the leather-clad rocker's first appearance since the death of his mother, Eva.
    Enigma is the last film acclaimed actress Kate will make before she takes time out to concentrate on motherhood. She has vowed to take things easy once filming is over, while she and husband Jim Threapleton await the baby's arrival.  Kate has been putting in long days on filming but appeared in good spirits as she prepared to shoot these final scenes. One side-effect of her pregnancy has been a craving for fizzy cola sweets, tomatoes and black currant juice. She has also battled severe bouts of morning sickness to make sure she is on set at the right time every day. The down-to-earth actress even snubbed the star treatment of chauffeur-driven cars to travel with the rest of the cast and crew in minibuses. Kate has admitted she is looking forward to taking a break after Enigma.  She said: "I've got one more week filming and that's it until after baby comes along."  She has no idea what the sex of their baby is. She said: "As long as it's got all its fingers and toes, we don't mind."
    When it comes to the secret of happiness, Kate seems to have cracked it.

From The Mirror Online (UK), May 30:
    It may not be titanic yet, but Kate Winslet's bump is certainly growing at full speed.  And the pregnant 24-year-old actress was only too willing to show it off yesterday [I wonder if it was really yesterday?] during a break from filming.  Kate, whose baby is due in September, recently moaned that she was too small.  She said: "I know people who got pregnant the same time as me and they are absolutely huge." Now, though, she feels just swell on the set of the pounds 12 million movie Enigma, co-produced by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
    Kate, who is married to director Jim Threapleton, plays a Second World War secret service worker. Her dowdy clothes are a stark contrast to the glam frocks she wore in the blockbuster Titanic. And she's had to fight severe bouts of morning sickness. But one thing's for sure. She can't wait for the berth.

From the Mirror Online (UK), May 20:
"Celebrity Bumps" - Women of substance with great expectations.  And don't they just love to let you know it!  But the celebrities proudly displaying their bumps here have some pretty differing views on style for mums-to-be.  Some parade in designer gear, others dress down. Kate Winslet, 25-year-old [they always get her age wrong!] wife of Jim Threapleton, doesn't give a damn about fashion and lets it all show. Due September.

From the Guardian (UK), May 16:
"Married With Kids" By Emma Warren -
Young, free and single is fine these days. But what if you're a young woman who (whisper it) wants to settle down? While we can ignore teeny marriages between plastic movie people in LA (stand up, Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon), everyone thought it was rather weird that a nice middle-class girl like Kate Winslet would get pregnant and married at only 24… The message has been coming across loud and clear: Choose life, choose a TV, but don't choose marriage or kids. "There's a lot of pressure," [26-year-old teacher Kate] Licence says. "Women of our generation have got to have gone to college, had a career, been around the world, had loads of relationships and then, only then, you're allowed to have a child." Of course it's not black and white.

From The Telegraph (UK), May 10:
There's only one person the millennium year really belongs to, and that's "the baby". Pregnancy is the new rock 'n' roll - everyone's doing it. Just look at them all. First Cherie Blair, then Emma Noble, Catherine Zeta Jones, Madonna, Iman, Kate Winslet, and now a sheepish Ulrika Jonsson, too - all preparing themselves for a summer of paparazzi purgatory, filled with prying lenses looking for that ultimate glossy cover shot. Forget sex scandals and sleaze, you'll find all that on the inside pages: The real news is up front, where it belongs - who's having a baby and, more importantly, how are they coping and what do they look like?

From Now magazine (UK), May 10:
Flame-haired, bespectacled and to put it charitably, rather dowdily dressed, Kate Winslet has never looked like this before. But it really is her. The Titanic actress, who's expecting her first child by husband film director Jim Threapleton in September, was shooting her last film before the birth. The reason for the dated dress is that she's starring in Enigma, a film set in the '40's, about the British wartime code-breakers who cracked Germany's military secrets. Kate, 24, says she's experiencing a craving for fizzy cola sweets, tomatoes and black currant juice as a result of her pregnancy. Sounds like a balanced diet.

From the Daily Record (UK), May 9:
"I'm Not So Titanic, Says Pregnant Kate" -
    Pregnant Kate Winslet proudly showed off her bump yesterday but said: "I think I'm quite small for five months." The Titanic star said: "I know people at the same stage as me and they are absolutely huge. I was fully expecting to completely explode but at the moment I haven't."
    Kate is expecting her first child with husband Jim Threapleton in September. And she was happy to be caught by the cameras at Heathrow airport before flying to Amsterdam. Patting her tummy, the Hollywood beauty said her pregnancy was going "really great". And asked if the couple knew the baby's sex, Kate said: "No we don't - and we don't want to know, either. We want it to be a surprise."
    The actress was flying to Holland to finish off her latest film Enigma, based on Robert Harris's novel about how German codes were broken in World War II. But Kate, who plays one of the code-breakers, was looking forward to when the filming is over. She said: "I've got one more week filming and that's it until after baby comes along."

From the Mirror Online (UK), May 8:
"Kate's Big Issue", by Matthew Wright -
    After all the tosh written about her weight, gorgeous Titanic star Kate Winslet had her own complaint yesterday - that she wasn't big enough. The pregnant actress proudly showed off her bump as she left Blighty for Amsterdam and then complained that she should be bigger as she's five months gone. "I'm quite small for five months," she giggled. "I know people who are absolutely huge." Kate, 25, [oops, wrong age] who is married to film director Jim Threapleton, said they have no idea what sex the baby is.  "As long as it's got all its fingers and toes, we don't mind," she said. The star has one week's filming left on Mick Jagger's WW II movie Enigma.

From a May Press Association, Ltd. article [thanks to Janalynn for the tip]:
The pair, who were married in a low key ceremony in her home town of Reading, are now expecting their first baby in September, and the ever effervescent star can barely contain her excitement… Right now there's only one production on her mind. "I'm reading a couple of books on the subject," she says of her pregnancy. "I'm not diving in too deep, just to find out the basics - like eat this and don't eat that. We haven't even started thinking of names yet though," she smiles. "When we do it will probably be Jim getting his own way instead of me."

From World Entertainment News Network, May 4:
The movie [Enigma] is well on schedule and unaffected by Winslet's pregnancy. [Jagged Films] Spokesperson Linda Gable says, "We're on track to finish by the end of June. Everything's going smoothly. And Kate's pregnancy hasn't been a problem at all - I haven't seen any busloads of beetroot or marmite arriving to satisfy her cravings or anything!"

From the May issue of Empire magazine:
Expecting - Kate Winslet and hubby Jim Threapleton have ended months of tabloid speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child in September. Winslet and Threapleton, an Assistant Director, met on the set of Hideous Kinky and were married in November 1998.

From an interview with Stephen Thompson, for a UK movie news web site:
KW - This baby is yet to arrive [due in September] and I'd say that since getting married nude scenes are even harder to do and I'm being much more particular about them. That's just something that comes from me because Jim is even more relaxed about it than I am. In terms of locations, I would have thought that when the baby comes along it will influence my choice of where I go, yes.
Question - How else are you preparing for motherhood?
KW - At the moment it's still early days and I just want to get the first couple of scans out of the way.
Question - Are you sorting out the books of names and pretending to involve Jim in this and then you'll make the decision for him anyway?
KW - [Laughs] We haven't even started thinking about that yet!

From the Mirror Online (UK), April 21:
"Is It Coat Winslet? All Change For New Movie Role" -
    Beneath a long coat, anorak, stern specs and a shock of red hair, Kate Winslet is a far cry from the beautifully tailored English blonde [blonde?!] of Titanic. Movie fans would have been hard put to spot the glamorous guest of this month's BAFTA Film Awards in her new guise. But her professionalism won Oscar-style tributes from fellow cast members on the set of Enigma, a movie adaptation of Robert Harris's bestseller about Britain's wartime code-breakers.
    Kate, 25 [oops-wrong age!], and film director husband Jim Threapleton are expecting their first child in September. And the weather during shooting in Lea Valley, Herts, was foul enough for icebergs. But the mum-to-be soldiered on. Kate gained early brownie points by traveling around the set with the rest of the cast in a minibus, leaving her chauffeur driven Merc on the sidelines. And she won sympathy on a few flying visits to the loo. One onlooker said: "She emerged looking a bit green. Someone suggested she might be suffering a touch of morning sickness and that would seem to add up. But if she is, it hasn't stopped her being a real trouper. She stood around for ages in the rain and it was a really long day - she worked from about 8.30am until 7pm."

From the Telegraph (UK), April 20:
Pictures of Madonna, clearly blooming in the fourth month of her pregnancy, have sparked a wave of interest in her new health regime. But Madonna never goes for the easy option - and following too many philosophies can prove confusing. While her pregnant contemporary Kate Winslet craved cola-flavoured sweets and Catherine Zeta Jones was addicted to beetroot salad, Madonna demanded butternut squash.

From the E! News Daily television program, April 10:
[Host's voice-over; clip of Kate presenting at the BAFTA ceremony - she sure looked as though she was having a good time]: "Kate was on hand this weekend at the British Academy film awards. The actress says her pregnancy has slowed her down a little bit, but her cravings haven't stopped." [Kate outside theatre]: "I did have a thing about fizzy cola bottles. I don't know why - I think it was just sour - something to do with that, and tomatoes, as well." [Kate 'pulled a face' about her cravings - cute.]

The Entertainment Tonight television program featured Kate at the BAFTA's, April 10:
Kate was at the Orange British Academy Film Awards where the news was American Beauty's six wins, and Kate's pregnancy. [Kate patting her "bump"] "It's only little, but it's there a little bit."

From The Guardian (UK), April 10:
"My Bump and Me, by Kate" - Patting her tummy to acknowledge her great expectations, four-months pregnant Kate Winslet arrives at the Odeon, Leicester Square for last night's BAFTA awards.

From BBC News, April 9:
"Normal Celebrity Mum" - Pregnant superstar Kate Winslet, wearing an elegant black trouser suite with floral decoration, and a diamond necklace, was greeted with cheers, but there was no sign of husband Jim Threapleton. Asked how it felt to be a celebrity mum-to-be, she said: "I'm just getting on with it. I'm like any normal person. I have the same worries, I have the same excitements. I'm not thinking of myself in that way."

From the April 7 issue of OK! Magazine (UK):
"Kate Will Be a Dab Hand at Motherhood" -
Expect the children's parties at Kate Winslet's house to be something special when the beautiful actress becomes a mum for the first time later this year. The Titanic star, who admits she's always had strong maternal feelings, has revealed that she's a dab hand when it comes to the fine art of face-painting. "It comes from when I was a child myself and I used to love painting my sisters' faces," says Kate, 24, whose latest movie Holy Smoke opens this weekend. "I enjoyed it so much that if I hadn't been an actress, I would have wanted to be a make-up artist." Despite being pregnant, Kate, who is married to film director Jim Threapleton, plans to keep up her busy work schedule. She recently finished shooting Quills, a biopic of the Marquis de Sade, and is set to star in Enigma, a new film being produced by Mick Jagger. Lucky Kate is in the fortunate position of being able to choose her roles carefully - and she's inundated with movie offers. "It is a case of seeing what comes up," she says. "I would never say yes to something that didn't really fire me up."

From an Irish Times interview, April 1:
In April, she has got four weeks shooting on Enigma, a film adapted by Tom Stoppard from Robert Harris's novel about the British code-breaking team at Bletchley Park during the second World War. Then nothing until the baby is six months old, when filming begins on an adaptation of Therese Raquin, from the novel by Zola in which she takes the lead. After which it'll be Jim's turn. A normal life for the baby is more important than anything else, she says, and they plan to take it in turns to work. "I don't want to be one of these mothers who cart their kid around and I'm photographed getting off a plane with the baby in a pack on the front and heaps of bags and sunglasses on. It would just be vile, vile."

From an interview in Associated Newspapers:
"It's like my doctor said recently: 'Maybe you should think about where you'd like to have the baby', and I said: 'Not The Portland.' It's a celebrity baby factory (she giggles mischievously). I'm sorry, but it is."

From the Sunday Times (UK), March 19:
"Battle of the Bulges" -
The Chinese will tell us that this is the Year of the Dragon, but in Britain we know better: It is, of course, the Year of the Celebrity Baby. Meg Mathews and Emma Thompson have had theirs, while Cherie Blair, Catherine Zeta Jones, Emma Noble, Iman and Kate Winslet are lining up to provide us with a summer of happy tidings and glossy OK! covers.

From Showbiz Scoop, March 7:
"Kate's TITANIC with KINKY Love-child," by Bibi St. Bijou --
    HOLY SMOKE! London celeb hunters are whispering about how Kate Winslet and director husband Jim Threapleton have been caught red-handed in public. That's right, the pair have been seen out & about in the Queen's hometown, with Jim's hand placed paternally on Kate's tummy with the love wattage cranked to bug zapper decimals. Kate's camp confirms there's a new Winslet on the way, due in seven months.
    HIDEOUS KINKY? Behave. Although Kate and Jim met on the set of that film, they're thrilled about their impending parenthood and Kate has far from slowed down to knit or nest. She's just finished the Marquis de Sade film, QUILLS, costarring Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine, and will soon begin work on the World War II code-cracking drama, ENIGMA. But she better hurry. (We may just see her from the eyebrows up, hidden in a foxhole) All this on top of a recent GRAMMY win for Best Spoken Word Recording for Children. Let's hope her bouncing bundle inherits this enormous talent, but not her astonishing size 10 ½ feet. I kid you not. TITANIC flip-flops indeed.

From Screendaily, February 28:
    Therese Raquin, the period film based on the novel by Emile Zola which was due to start shooting in April with David Leveaux directing, has been postponed to March or April next year following the announcement of star Kate Winslet's pregnancy... "Kate is very attached to the film - it's much more than just an acting role for her," said [producer Nigel] Stafford Clark.

From the Sunday Times (UK), February 27:
"My Latest Production" -
Titanic star Kate Winslet is expecting a baby, it was announced last week. So she'll soon be thinking about names. With the months of anxiety, the surprise of the big day and the tears when it finally arrives, have you considered Oscar?

From This is Leicestershire, February 25:
"Titanic Star Kate To Be A Mum" -
    Titanic star Kate Winslet and husband Jamie Threapleton were said to be delighted after it was revealed the actress is pregnant. Kate, 24, reportedly had a pregnancy test after returning from a six-week trip to California and Fiji with her film director husband. The baby is reportedly due in the autumn.
    Jamie's grandmother Marjorie Haskey, 72, told The Sun: 'Kate and James are over the moon.
'It will be our first great-grandchild and I never thought we'd see the day.'
    Kate's pregnancy is expected to delay the shooting of a film version of Emile Zola's book Therese Raquin, which she was due to start filming alongside Dame Judi Dench in June. She has just finished making Quills about the Marquis de Sade and can be next be seem on the big screen opposite Harvey Keitel in religious cult drama Holy Smoke.

From the Times (UK), February 25:
"Winslet to Take up Role of a Mother" - from Grace Bradberry in Los Angeles:
    Kate Winslet, the star of the film Titanic, is pregnant, just over a year after she married her boyfriend, the assistant director Jim Threapleton. Her New York publicist, Robert Garlock, confirmed the news yesterday, adding: "She and Jim are thrilled."
    The pregnancy was disclosed in the Hollywood Reporter, which noted that shooting of Thérèse Raquin, an adaptation of an Emile Zola novel, had been delayed until next year. Despite the huge commercial success of Titanic, Winslet, 24, is known as an actress prepared to star in low-budget movies to stretch her talent. She met Threapleton on the set of Hideous Kinky in Morocco in August 1997. Winslet was starring and Threapleton was an assistant director. They married in November 1998 at her parish church in Reading, Berkshire. Afterwards the guests, including the actress Emma Thompson, ate bangers and mash.

From the Telegraph (UK), February 25:
"Kate Winslet Expects First Child" -
    Kate Winslet, who starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, announced yesterday that she is pregnant with her first child. The 24-year-old, who is married to the director James Threapleton, was said to be "ecstatic".
    Robert Garlock, her agent in America, said the couple were "hugely happy". The announcement of her pregnancy comes only a month after a spokesman denied rumours that she was expecting a child. Mr. Threapleton had been photographed placing his hand on her stomach as they arrived at the premiere of her latest film Holy Smoke.

From The Guardian (UK), February 25:
"Patter of Tiny Feet for Kate Winslet," -
    The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Kate Winslet is expecting her first child with husband Jim Threapleton. The actress, who got married last year to the assistant director, is said to be "thrilled".
    Winslet recently turned down the role of Bridget Jones in a big-budget version of Helen Fielding's novel, The Diary of Bridget Jones (the part has now gone to the American actress Renee Zellweger), but is keen to fit in one more role before the baby is born in late September. She is in talks to star in Enigma, a thriller based on Robert Harris's best-selling novel about the race to break German code during the second world war.
    Michael Apted, who recently helmed the nineteenth Bond film, The World is Not Enough, will direct the film which boasts a script written by Tom Stoppard.  Dougray Scott and Saffron Burrows and will also star in the film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in London this spring.
    Winslet, who just wrapped the Marquis de Sade tale Quills, still has another literary period piece in development, Emile Zola's Therese Raquin. But this project is likely to be put on the back burner until Winslet is back from maternity leave.

From This is London (Associated Newspapers), February 25:
"Winslet Expecting a Baby" -
    Actress Kate Winslet, star of the Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, is expecting her first baby. The screen beauty and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, will become parents later this year, it was announced in Los Angeles.
    A spokesman for Kate said: "I can confirm Kate Winslet is pregnant. At this point we know nothing else except that she and Jim are absolutely thrilled."
    The actress, nominated twice for Oscars for her roles in Titanic and Sense and Sensibility, has said that she wanted to be a "young mum". In a recent interview she said that she considers a happy - and large - family more important than stardom or professional success. "I adore babies and children and Jim and I want three or four," she said. "And I want to be a young mum so that my experience of being a child and a teenager is still fresh."
    The couple met when Winslet was filming Hideous Kinky in Morocco in 1997. Threapleton was third assistant director and the pair said it was love at first sight. Their relationship grew when Threapleton comforted her when her first love, former EastEnders producer Stephen Tredre, died from cancer. They were secretly engaged before returning to England and got married in her home town of Reading, Berks, in November 1998.
    Winslet has just finished shooting Quills - about the life of the Marquis de Sade - and is negotiating to star in an adaptation of Robert Harris's best-selling book, Enigma. "Winslet would be able to fit Enigma into her schedule before her next big production - the birth of her first child," said the Hollywood Reporter.

February 25, From E! Online (similar wording appeared on Yahoo):
Kate Winslet Pregnant! By Emily Farache
Feb 25, 2000, 8:45 AM PT
    Get ready for a stork delivery of Titanic proportions:  Kate Winslet is expecting her first baby, according to British news reports.
    Winslet, 24, and hubby Jim Threapleton (who's been spotted around London rubbing his wife's tummy in recent weeks) reportedly expect the bambino in September. "She and Jim are over the moon about the news - they are absolutely thrilled," a Winslet spokesperson says.
    "Kate loves kids and is thrilled she's fallen pregnant so quickly," a friend says in Britain's Sun. "She and Jim are a great couple with a wonderful marriage. They now feel ready to welcome a new member to the fold."
    Winslet, meanwhile, is keeping herself plenty busy before the birthing. She just finished shooting a movie about the life of the Marquis de Sade called Quills and is about to start shooting Enigma.
    With the tyke due in seven months, Kate'll have just enough enough time to squeeze in the thriller based on a best selling Robert Harris novel. "She wants to do one more film before the bump shows," Winslet's mother-in-law tells Britain's Mirror. "Then it will be down to get ready for the new arrival."
    Enigma is about a man's race against time to decipher a secret German code during World War II.
    Winslet, who shot to international superstardom in Titanic and most recently appeared in Holy Smoke, met her director husband on the set of Hideous Kinky in 1997. The couple married in her hometown of Reading, England, in November 1998.

From BBC news, February 25:
"Titanic Star's Baby Joy" -
    Actress Kate Winslet, star of the Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, is expecting her first baby. The 24-year-old and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, will become parent later this year, it was announced in Los Angeles, A spokesman for the actress said: "I can confirm Kate Winslet is pregnant. At this point we know nothing else except that she and Jim are absolutely thrilled."
    The actress, nominated twice for Oscars for her roles in Titanic and Sense and Sensibility, has said that she wanted to be a young mum. In a recent interview she said that she considers a happy - and large - family more important than stardom or professional success. "I adore babies and children and Jim and I want three or four," she said. "And I want to be a young mum so that my experience of being a child and a teenager is still fresh."
    The couple met when Winslet was filming Hideous Kinky in Morocco in 1997. Threapleton was third assistant director and the pair said it was love at first sight. Their relationship grew when Threapleton comforted her when her first love, former EastEnders producer Stephen Tredre, died from cancer. They were secretly engaged before returning to England and got married in a low-key ceremony in her home town of Reading, Berkshire, in November 1998.
    Winslet has just finished shooting Quills - about the life of the Marquis de Sade - and is expected to star in an adaption of Robert Harris' best-selling book, Enigma.

From Reuters, February 25:
British actress Kate Winslet, who starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Titanic, is expecting her first baby, newspapers reported on Friday. "She and (husband) Jim are over the moon about the news - they are absolutely thrilled," the Sun newspaper quoted a spokesman for Winslet as saying. The Mirror said Winslet, 24, was due to give birth in late September. Winslet has just finished shooting Quills - a movie about the life of the Marquis de Sade - and the Mirror said she was about to start filming Enigma, based on a best-selling Robert Harris novel. The film, partly backed by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, tells the story of a man's frantic battle to crack a secret German code during World War Two. Winslet and her movie director husband Jim Threapleton met on set in 1997 and married 15 months ago.

From Mr. Showbiz, February 24:
"Kate Winslet Pregnant" -
Kate Winslet has already played a murderous schoolgirl, a passionate Jane Austen heroine, a reluctant debutante, and a global adventurer. Now the actress adds a new real-life role: Mother.
    The 24-year-old Titanic star is expecting her first child with husband James Threapleton, the Hollywood Reporter said Thursday. Winslet married the assistant director, whom she met on the set of Hideous Kinky, in November 1998.
    "She and Jim are over the moon about the news - they are absolutely thrilled," London's Sun newspaper quoted a spokesman for Winslet as saying.
    The Mirror, another British paper, said Winslet, 24, was due to give birth in late September.
    The actress is negotiating to fit in one more film project before she becomes a mother. She's eyeing another historical role for The World is Not Enough director Michael Apted. The film, Enigma, is based on Robert Harris' best-selling World War II novel about the race to break a German code. Dougray Scott (Ever After, Mission: Impossible 2) and Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea, Time Code) will also star. Tom Stoppard, who shared an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love with Marc Norman, wrote the script with Hannah Weg.
    According to the Reporter, filming is scheduled to begin this spring in London. The film, budgeted at more than $30 million, does not yet have a U.S. distributor.
    Winslet, who just wrapped the Marquis de Sade tale Quills, still has another literary period piece in development, Emile Zola's Therese Raquin. The Zola project will most likely wait until after Winslet's back from maternity leave.

 

 

Feature Articles:

 

January 7: Kate is featured in The News of The World Online Sunday Magazine. The brief article is a re-working of quotes previously published, and it has three pics inside that aren't new to us - the 'official' first baby photo, a wedding photo, and a pic of Kate and Joaquin in Quills. The cover shot is an older pic - but a nice pose from that photo session that's new to me.
"I Was Scared I'd Break My Baby," by Eva Lawrence
    "She's my most amazing production yet," says Kate Winslet of her three-month-old daughter Mia. "She's not very far away from here, she's just gone for a little walk with her dad. She's absolutely gorgeous."
    Mia was born 8lb 9oz on October 12 last year - Kate and hubby Jim Threapleton's first-born - and has transformed their lives. "My mind has been so much on her and I was just feeding her, so it's been sort of bizarre to find myself re-engaging with the real world," adds Kate, 25. "We've been in this little cocoon of baby for a while, since the day that she was born. But I would say that I already feel like a much calmer person, I don't feel so hectic and so desperate for a cigarette. I don't smoke anymore, so I feel I've changed in some ways already, and I'm sure it will continue to change me."
    She says Jim, 26, whom she fell for while filming Hideous Kinky, has taken to fatherhood like a duck to water. "Jim is absolutely brilliant," she beams. "There are times when I look at him with her and I think `God, I wish I could be as brilliant with her as he is'. I'm constantly questioning myself and he's questioning himself all the time as well, but he's just amazing with her. We both didn't know how to handle her in the first few days - she is so precious we didn't want to break her. So every nappy change would take 30 minutes! Now it takes 30 seconds, you get quicker at these things. And actually babies are very robust, they're not as fragile as people think they are."
    Kate's obvious joy at becoming a mum comes as she launches her raunchiest role yet, alongside Sir Michael Caine, in Quills, about the life of the Marquis de Sade. The movie is released on January 19. Kate - Oscar-nominated for her role as Rose in Titanic - plays a laundress who smuggles the Marquis' manuscripts out of the lunatic asylum where he is being held. She also stars in Second World War thriller Enigma, filmed while she was pregnant with Mia and out later this year.
    In the past, filming has taken her to Morocco, Australia and India. But she's determined not to stray far from London now. She adds: "It's very important to us that Mia isn't suddenly bundled into bags and shipped off to every different location like part of the package. I would hate for that to happen. So I'm very fortunate that I am not working for about six months now and when I do work, it's all at home. On the next film, Therese Raquin, that I am doing this year, everything is being shot at Shepperton Studios, which is half an hour from where I live. The location of a film will make a great difference to me. I don't want Mia to be everywhere else apart from home before the age of five. She'll always come first, so Jim and I will take it in turns to work. My hope for Mia is that she'll be able to put up with us as parents! I mean, I don't have any set ideas for her, I just hope that we can bring her up to be a happy, balanced child. If you're asking me whether I would like her to be an actress, probably not. But if she did want to do that, then great, we wouldn't encourage or discourage it, we'd just let her make up her own mind."
    But Kate's fans will be glad to hear that although motherhood may mean fewer movies, it will mean even better acting. She says: "It will probably make me much more squishy and vulnerable and emotional - and I will probably find it a lot easier to cry on screen now." And she adds: "My private life, no matter how poor I was, will always be the most important thing in the world to me. Because if I didn't have that, then I wouldn't have anything and I would just feel a commodity."
    Kate and Jim love being parents to Mia.

 

November 20: I found an interview with Kate in today's UK Telegraph. It is one of the many interviews she did just prior to the Quills premiere at the London Film Festival on November 3. Here are excerpts mentioning Mia:
"I am a Calmer, Softer Person" -- As the final films she made before becoming a mother are released, Kate Winslet tells John Hiscock how much having a baby has changed her, and how her daughter will revolutionise the way she works
    Kate Winslet was trying to concentrate, but her mind was elsewhere. Since giving birth to her daughter, Mia, this was her first separation, albeit a short one, from the baby. Our interview had been delayed for an hour because, just as Winslet was leaving her room at the London hotel where we had arranged to meet, Mia woke up and needed breast-feeding. Mia was now in the care of Winslet's husband of two years, Jim Threapleton. Even so, she found it hard to tear her mind away from her daughter. "Mia's teeny-weeny and she's not very far away," said Winslet when she finally emerged. "She's just gone for a little walk with her dad. Before I came down to talk to you I thought, how can I concentrate on what I am saying? My mind has been so much on her that it's bizarre to find myself re-engaging with the real world." She laughingly calls Mia "my most amazing production yet. She's absolutely gorgeous. She's transformed my world. We've been in this little baby cocoon since the day she was born. She is so precious that for the first few days we were worried about breaking her, and every nappy change would take 30 minutes. Now it takes 30 seconds. We're getting quicker at these things and realising babies are not as fragile as we think. Jim is brilliant with her and there are times when I look at him with her and wish I could be as good as he is."
    Winslet now plans to take six months off. She will go back to work next spring, to produce and star in Therese Raquin, an adaptation of the Zola novel directed by David Leveaux, to be filmed at Shepperton, 20 minutes from her home. In fact, she doesn't expect to be traveling very far for the foreseeable future. "It's important to us that Mia isn't put into a bag and bundled off to film locations. I don't want to see her anywhere but at home for the next five years. Where a film is made has now become very important to us."
    Since her birth on October 12, Mia has already had a profound effect on Winslet's character. "I'm a lot less hectic than I was," she says. "I've stopped smoking and I've become a much calmer, softer person. I'm becoming more squishy and vulnerable and emotional and I'm sure I'll find it easier to cry on screen." Having Mia has made her unsympathetic to those celebrities who sell photographs of their new-born babies to magazines for large sums. "I think it's pretty outrageous," she says. "There is a very fine line between satisfying the public's interest and selling your private life. At the end of the day you can only say that they needed the money. I would never do that. No matter how poor I was, my private life would always be the most important thing in the world. If I didn't have that I would just be a commodity."

 

November 8: Karen scanned and emailed me the NOW Magazine article featuring pics of Kate, Jim and Mia leaving the hospital a couple of days after Mia's birth. To view the images, go to the Mia Gallery.  I have transcribed the text of the article:
"Kate Takes Time Out To Be Mia's Mama" -- The Titanic star is having a well-earned seven-month break from the movie world after the birth of her daughter Mia. She's just had a baby and moved into new home with husband Jim Threapleton - which is why Kate Winslet is putting her career on hold.
    Kate Winslet has a lot to thank the film Titanic for: Not only did it make her an international star, it also helped her prepare for the recent birth of her daughter Mia.
    "I'm stoical and have a pretty high pain threshold," says Kate. "I've had a good training for labour with some of my film roles, especially Titanic, when I was immersed for days in freezing tanks of water."
    Insisting on a natural, drug-free birth, Kate was overjoyed when Mia, weighing in at 8 lbs., 9 oz., was born without complications.
    Now Kate, 25, plans to take a break from movies to concentrate on being a mum, spending time with husband Jim Threapleton, 26, and settling Mia in their new home in Walton-on-Thames.
    It's no surprise that Kate's determined to put her private life first. After her marriage to film director Jim in November 1998, she took six months off work to enjoy a normal domestic life with her husband. The two met on the set of Hideous Kinky in Morocco and their marriage was a low-key affair at Kate's home church in Reading.
    As with the wedding, Kate refused to consider six-figure sums to pose exclusively with Mia. Her publicist Robert Garlock said: "It's not their style. To sell to the highest bidder turns a wonderful event into a financial one, and, as with their wedding, that's not what it's meant to be."
    First to celebrate Mia's arrival were Kate's parents, Sally, 55 and Roger, 60. "We're over the moon," says her father. "The first grandchild is always special - and she's beautiful." Kate's father-in-law Edward Threapleton was also thrilled after he confessed recently how much he wanted a granddaughter with "so many boys in the family."
    Kate's plans to return to work next April to film Therese Raquin, based on the classic French romantic thriller by Emile Zola. Working with Telltale Films, the production company she and Jim have set up, she'll co-produce and star in the film with Judi Dench.
    Kate kept working through her pregnancy on the World War II movie Enigma with Dougray Scott and can be seen in Quills with Michael Caine in January.
    She recently admitted to wanting three or four children. Her grandmum had six and Kate is one of four. And with sister Beth, 22, expecting her first child in November, it may not be long before little Mia has a playmate.

 

November 6: There's a nice interview in today's Mirror:
"Being A Mum Is My Best Production Yet…I've Quit Smoking and Become Calmer, More Vulnerable and Squishy" -- Star Kate on Parenthood:
    The star of the world's biggest-grossing movie is proud to present her favourite spectacular, a baby. Kate Winslet drools over three-week-old Mia Honey Threapleton and gushes: "She's my most amazing production yet, absolutely gorgeous. And she's transformed my life.''
    The 25-year-old Titanic actress, wife of film director Jim Threapleton, explained how her personality has changed because of her daughter. "I'm a lot less hectic than I was,'' she said in her first interview since Mia's October 12 birth. "I've stopped smoking and I've become a much calmer, softer person. I'm becoming much more squishy and vulnerable and emotional and I'm sure I'll find it a lot easier to cry on screen.'' She added: "I wanted to be a young mum because I wanted to be able to enjoy my child when I'm young and active. My mum and dad are ecstatic and Jim's parents are as well.''
    Kate admitted that she and Jim, 26, are busy learning about parenthood.  "We've been in this little baby cocoon since the day Mia was born," she said. "She is so precious that for the first few days we were worried about breaking her and every nappy change would take 30 minutes. Now it takes 30 seconds. We're getting quicker at these things and realising babies are very robust and not as fragile as we thought. Jim is brilliant with her and there are times when I look at him with her and wish I could be as good as he is."
    The couple met while working on the film Hideous Kinky and married two years ago. Kate breast-fed Mia, then left her in Jim's care while speaking to The Mirror. She told me: "Before I came to talk to you I thought 'My God, how can I concentrate on what I am saying?' My mind has been so much on her that it's very bizarre to find myself re-engaging with the real world again."
    There are no celebrity-style airs and graces about Kate. She is refreshingly down-to-earth and appears so approachable that strangers do not hesitate to come up and talk to her when she is out shopping. "I'm a normal person,'' she said, "so I end up having lovely chats with people at the fruit and vegetable stall and I love it. I'm flattered that people want to talk to me."
    But is not afraid to be controversial - and expresses her "outrage'' over stars who have sold photographs of their newborn babies to magazines. She declared: "I have very strong feelings about that. There is a very fine line between satisfying the public's interest and selling your private life. I find it kind of sad that people feel the need to do that and at the end of the day you can only say that they needed the money. I would never do that. No matter how poor I was my private life would always be the most important thing in the world. And if I didn't have that I would just be a commodity. I would never sell things to magazines like OK and Hello." Kate and Jim paid pounds 800,000 for their house overlooking the River Thames outside London, so that their daughter could grow up away from the bustle of the metropolis. And, putting Mia first, Kate plans to choose film projects that will keep her near to home for some time to come. The star said: "It's very important to us that Mia isn't put into a bag and bundled off to film locations. I don't want to see her anywhere but at home for the next five years. I'm not working for about six months now and when I do work it will be near home. 'Therese Raquin', which I'm filming next year, is being shot at Shepperton Studios, half an hour from where I live. After that, I don't know what I'm going to do."
    But it will be a long time before Mia is allowed to see her mum's latest film Quills, which had its British premiere in London on Friday. In the movie Kate plays a laundry maid at the lunatic asylum where perverted author the Marquis de Sade is held. Quills depicts torture and brutality. And Kate has an explicit lovemaking scene with Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the marquis [oops, he does not play the marquis]. She recalled: "That scene was the hardest for me to do, not just because it's a nude scene - and they're always hard for me to do - but because there was so much emotion in it.'' To prepare herself for the role she read some of the marquis's writings - but wishes she hadn't. "They're embarrassingly vile," she said.
    Even at the premiere, however, Kate's mind was still on Mia and the child's future. "If Mia wants to be an actress when she grows up, that's fine by me," she said. "I want her to do what she wants. I just hope I can bring her up to be a happy, stable child who doesn't want to run away from home at the age of 13."

 

October 24: Kate is featured in the 10/31 issue of Hello! Magazine:

Titanic star Kate and director husband Jim, proudly present their five-day-old sleeping beauty.
First-time mother Kate described daughter Mia - which means "mine" in Italian - as "absolutely gorgeous".
 
Kate and Jim, just after tying the knot two years ago.
The couple met while making the film Hideous Kinky

She's no stranger to photocalls, but Kate Winslet looked particularly radiant as she posed for this special family portrait. The 25-year-old British actress smiled and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, gently cradled their newborn daughter Mia, who remained fast asleep despite all the attention.
    The couple's first child was born without complication at a London hospital, weighing 8lb 9oz. "The first grandchild is always very special and she's really beautiful," said Kate's father Roger from his home in Reading. "Mother and baby are doing just fine. Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and they are all doing very well."
    Kate, who met Jim while filming Hideous Kinky in Morocco and married two years ago, has decided to take a seven-month break from her acting career to be with her baby.

[Actually, the pic of Mia was reportedly taken when she was three days old.]

 

October 17: Here's another article about Mia's debut; this one's from the Daily Express:
"Mamma Mia! Kate's Girl Shows Star Quality On Her Film Debut," by David Smith
    For this young couple, the camera is king. But this one picture will transcend all others in their glittering careers. Film star Kate Winslet and her director husband Jim Threapleton are revealing to the world for the first time the most precious addition to their lives - baby daughter Mia. It will certainly take pride of place in their family album. Kate, 25, remembers to smile for the camera as Jim, 26, cradles Mia, who was born at a London hospital last Thursday, weighing 8lb 9oz.
    Mia is the couple's first child but she will not have to wait long for a cousin, as Kate's actress sister Beth, 19 [oops, wrong age], is expecting next month.
    Kate's parents Roger, 60, and Sally, 55, said last night they were overjoyed with grandchild number one. "The first grandchild is always very special and she is really beautiful," Mr Winslet said. Speaking from the family's airy town house in Reading, Berkshire, he added: "We popped down on Saturday to see the new arrival. Kate is still relaxing at hospital in London. The birth went absolutely fine. There were no complications."
Mr. Winslet, a father of four, said: "Mother and baby are doing just fine. She is a gorgeous child but we are not sure who she looks like yet. But as every parent knows, babies change in appearance every day. We love the name Mia, although they haven't thought of a second name yet."
    Kate's agent Robert Garlock explained the choice of Mia - the Italian word meaning "mine".  "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names but when the baby was born none of them seemed right," said New York-based Mr Garlock. "Then Mia came to them and it seemed just right. There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name." He added: "Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and that they are all doing very well."
    The family of actors and actresses, with the exception of brother Joss, have kept their feet firmly on the ground, despite Titanic star Kate achieving global fame. Kate is taking a seven-month break from her acting career to be with her baby. She has said: "My career comes second. There are some actors who do back-to-back jobs and are anxious when others are in the limelight. That's not me. I've never been one for changing what is real to make my career buzz."
    She and Jim met during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco and married two years ago.
    Kate kept herself busy right up to the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed the drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
    She refused drugs to ease the pain during birth, saying: "Women were made to give birth so they should bloody well get on with it. If I need help, I call my acupuncturist."
    During the summer Kate and Jim bought a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London. Kate's sister Beth, whose film Bodywork opens this week, is expecting a baby next month with partner Gareth Rhys Jones.

 

October 15: I found this story on BBC News:
"Kate Winslet Names Baby Mia" -
Actress Kate Winslet has named her new baby girl Mia. The 25-year-old Titantic star and her director husband Jim Threapleton, 26, ruled out a list of names before deciding on Mia, which comes from the Italian word meaning "mine".
The baby weighed 8lb 9oz after she was born at an undisclosed London hospital at 0540BST on Thursday, said Winslet's New York-based agent Robert Garlock.  "Kate and Jim had drawn up a list of 10 names, but when the baby was born none of them seemed right," said Mr Garlock.  "Then Mia came to them, and it seemed just right. There is no family significance, they just thought it was a really beautiful name."
Large family plans -
The couple are still caring for the baby in hospital, but are due to return home on Monday.  "Kate said Mia was absolutely gorgeous and that they are all doing very well," said Mr Garlock.
Winslet said she was looking forward to taking a seven-month career break to be with her daughter.
The Hollywood film star married her husband two years ago after meeting during the filming of Hideous Kinky in Morocco in 1997.  She was the star and he an assistant director.
In an interview before the pregnancy was announced Winslet said that she considered a happy - and large - family more important than stardom or professional success.
Busy pregnancy -
The actress, who has also starred in Holy Smoke and Sense and Sensibility, kept herself busy right up until the birth. Five months into her pregnancy she filmed war drama Enigma, based on a best-selling Second World War story by Robert Harris.
During the summer, she was busy house-hunting, buying a £200,000 home in Cornwall and an old pump house overlooking the Thames in London.
The new parents will be keeping busy in the film world with their new production company Telltale Films which aims to develop and produce UK and European-based films.

 

October 14: Here's the article (thanks to one of my great news search engines) that broke the wonderful news!
"Kate Has A Baby Girl And Puts Her Career On Hold"
97% match; Daily Mail ; 14-Oct-2000 12:00:00 am
BY BAZ BAMIGBOYE
    Kate Winslet has given birth to a baby girl. Mother and daughter are both well following the delivery on Thursday. It is a first child for the 25-year-old actress and her director husband Jim Threapleton.
    Miss Winslet, who starred in the blockbuster Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio, now plans to take a seven-month break from her career.
    She married Threapleton, 26, two years ago after they met on the set of the film Hideous Kinky in Morocco.  "The minute I saw him I knew he was the one for me," said Miss Winslet just before their marriage. At the time, she said starting a family had become "The most important thing" in their lives and both were thrilled at the prospect of parenthood.
    Once she became pregnant, she revealed that her rounded tummy had become one of her husband's obsessions. She said in June: "Jim is just completely beside himself. The other day, he said, 'When we have the baby, do you think you could keep your tummy?'  I said that after I've had our baby I'll go back to having a lovely, flat stomach with a nice waist, and he said, 'I don't want that one, I want this one!'
    "People have always told me I have childbearing hips and now it's time to put them to good use." Despite plans to take an extended break after the birth, Miss Winslet certainly kept herself busy beforehand. Just before she became pregnant, she shot the film Quills with Geoffrey Rush and Michael Caine.
    Five months into her pregnancy, she was working long hours on the war drama Enigma, playing a character who was scripted to give birth. In the film, based on Robert Harris's best- selling novel about the Second World War code-breakers at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, she plays a straitlaced analyst who helps the story's hero - played by Dougray Scott - crack the German codes.
However, her character Hester's pregnancy was considerably more advanced than her own, which meant having to wear padding.
    Miss Winslet also recently signed a contract to become the voice of Enid Blyton by reading her stories for a series of talking books.
    Since Titanic's release four years ago, the Reading-born actress has become one of a handful of British performers with global clout. Her name can guarantee a film being financed.
    She and her husband have been busy putting down roots. In July, they bought a Pounds 200,000 Japanese-style house in Cornwall. Soon afterwards they purchased a Pounds 250,000 old pump-house overlooking the Thames.

 

From The Mirror, February 24:
"Star of Titanic Announces That's She's Pregnant" -
    They are so happy ...and Kate'll be a great mum. It's been an occasionally rocky ride - but today the star of Titanic is on the crest of a wave again. Kate Winslet is pregnant - and happier than she has been for years. Just three years ago - despite the fame and fortune her role in one of the biggest ever movie hits had brought her - Kate was in the depths of despair. Her teenage sweetheart, Stephen Tredre, the man she once expected to spend her life with, had died of cancer. The young couple were inseparable. And even after they realised they were not destined to marry, Kate and Stephen remained the best of friends. And when the talented young EastEnders script writer was given the crushing news he was dying of cancer, Kate was always there when he needed her. He died in December, 1997 - just as Titanic was being released at cinemas around the world. Kate was devastated, even missing the premiere of the movie that made her a superstar to attend her former lover's funeral. And she confided to friends: "I don't know if I'll ever get over this."
    But while she will never forget her beloved Stephen, her life today is full of joy. She met movie director Jim Threapleton just three months after Stephen's death [that's incorrect] - and it was a meeting that would change her life. After a blissful romance the couple married in November, 1998. And now the delighted 24-year-old star is six weeks pregnant and due to give birth in late September. Kate and Jim threw a champagne party for their closest friends and relatives the moment their happy news was confirmed. Before the baby is born Kate has told anxious film bosses she will have time to finish work on her new movie, the pounds 20 million British production, Enigma.
    Last night Kate's delighted mother-in-law, Louise, told The Mirror: "We're thrilled for them. This will be our first grandchild and we're extremely excited. Kate has been really glowing with health and hasn't had any side effects ... in fact, she's been as fit as a fiddle. It's a delightful surprise for us considering the baby will be born less than two years after they got married. It feels funny that we are going to be grandparents as we are both quite young still at just 48. Jim is only 26 and his brother Robin is 24 ... we thought we'd have a little while to wait yet. I must admit we've had the odd bottle of champagne since we found out. It really is terrific news for them both. Now we just have to get used to the idea and get ready for the big event later in the year. We really can't wait." Kate's parents, Sally and Roger, were the first to hear the news earlier this month. The couple, who met on the set of her film Hideous Kinky in Morocco, have been eager to start a family since their marriage a year ago. Kate sparked speculation about her condition earlier this month when she arrived at a Los Angeles premiere for her film, Holy Smoke. Jim had patted her tummy in front of photographers, suggesting she was pregnant - but she refused to confirm the rumours. But earlier this year Kate told of how she dreamed of becoming a mum. "I want three or four kids," she said. "I adore babies and children. I'm determined to become a young mother, because my own experiences of being a child and a teenager will be fresh. I want to be able to share that with my children and have more of a friendship as opposed to a parent-child relationship."
     Kate has also expressed her disenchantment with movies - hinting she was ready to give them up for good. "The whole business is complete madness, I constantly think of giving up," she revealed. "You put yourself through all these terrible traumas. And then you beat yourself about the head, thinking, 'I'm crap, I look like a horse and I've got an arse the size of a barn.'" Kate's pregnancy will dominate her movie plans for the next 12 months. She has just finished filming Quills, about the life of the Marquis de Sade, and is about to start filming Enigma, based on a best-selling Robert Harris novel. "She wants to do one more film before the bump shows," her mum-in-law Louise explained. "Then it will be down to getting ready for the new arrival. Kate loves children, she's bound to be a fantastic mum." The film, which is partly backed by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, tells the story of a man who races against time to crack a secret German code.
    Yesterday, calls to the actress's modest north London home went unanswered, but her eight-year-old Mini was parked outside. There is nothing flash about Kate Winslet. She and Jim married at Kate's family's local church in Reading, in front of the minister who christened her and a congregation of just 150 of her closest pals. She even opted to hold her reception in a country pub with bangers and mash on the menu. The couple kept their nuptials a secret until the very last moment in a bid to keep things private. But once they realised word had leaked out she revealed a refreshingly open attitude by agreeing to pose for photographs. Later, when they were discovered bike-riding on their honeymoon in Scotland it was the same story - the charming couple played ball with the photographers. Now Kate's pregnancy is the latest chapter in a remarkable story of the girl who grew up in a terraced house in Reading and took Hollywood by storm.

 

From a February 25 Mirror Online article:
"We Want Kate's Baby To Be A Girl" -
    Screen star Kate Winslet's relatives want her baby to be a girl, they revealed yesterday.  But the Titanic actress says she will be delighted whatever sex the child is. Kate, 24, is still on holiday with her husband Jim Threapleton, 26.
    Jim's father Edward told The Mirror: "My wife Louise would love a little granddaughter because we had two sons and most of my family tend to be on the male side - so she would love to get to grips with a girl. But, really, it doesn't matter. I don't think Kate really minds. She is very happy for nature to take its course and I don't think she's anxious to know or not."
    Jim and Kate have been traveling for more than six weeks but managed to call at the Threapletons' Linconshire home to break the news and share a bottle of champagne. "I'm going to be a grandfather - it's amazing. It's great news, really," said the former RAF officer. "They are not in London, but they're not here. I'm not quite sure exactly where they are. They were going on to see some friends. They dashed in to see us and dashed off again.
    "We are all absolutely delighted for them both. They are spending a bit of time together just enjoying the moment, which is marvelous." He added: "It is early on in the pregnancy, but it became obvious because she had to start negotiating for the next film she wanted to do. The problem is - and it's the same for any career, really - there is never an easy time. They've just got to bite the bullet and make plans around it. That is what James and Kate are doing. She's just pleased it's all fitting into place and she will be able to do something else this year before it's all too obvious what is going on."

 

From The Express (UK), March 25:
"The pregnant paws " -
Hands On, by Michael O'Dell:
    As an example of loving body language the dad-to-be's hand on the pregnant woman's "bump" looks positive. It is an implicit message of support and a proud: "Look what I did!" Kate Winslet's hubby Jim is merely showing public pride and affection at a time when some women feel burdened, hot, clammy, knackered and miserable that they will never again don a pair of hipsters.
    But if men take such pride in bulk of their own creating why don't we place a proprietorial hand across heavy shopping bags on the way home from the supermarket or over a beer belly which has taken years of careful stewardship to produce (Look! A life wasted in the pub!).
    Jim's public show of joy might equally be a private riposte to Leonardo DiCaprio, saying: "You may have steamed up the windows in that carriage on the Titanic with my missus but it took a real man to get her up the duff!" That's how men think. When men announce they are fathers-to-be, female friends offer genuine congratulations while males trade in-joke congrats related to potency: "Glad to see you're not firing blanks/ there is lead in your pencil/etc" The hand on the bump is not comfort for the flagging mum-to-be but more an ancient primal signal to other men which says: "Ha! Soon my offspring will start using up scant resources of this world leaving nothing for your kids, so I'm the winner!" These days men don't fight with stone tools over the fishfingers in the supermarkets but we still find it very hard not to think like idiots.
    There is also the boyish fascination with having a big belly and imagining a baby human clone of yourself inside it rather than say, beer. All men feel a sense of amazement and relief that their part in the procreational process is so short and the rest just seems to take care of itself.
    And as new thinking increasingly suggests the foetus can understand everything going on around it, men have started to believe they can begin to have interesting pub chats with their child-to-be. I can remember suggesting to my daughter Caitlin that we go pony-riding when she was but a seven-week old foetus. My girlfriend Karen was severely hacked off about this because I was obviously planning a social diary far more interesting than I had ever bothered to arrange for her plus I was ignoring her and talking to someone else through her stomach wall.
    "I'm late for my conference! Aren't you even going to wish me luck with the speech?" I remember her saying. All I could imagine was the bump mounting the podium and all the delegates thinking: "He must have great sperm, whoever he is."

Hands Off, by Charlotte Moore:
    Being pregnant has not suited me much; not because I've had piles or varicose veins but because I hate strangers touching me. All and sundry just can't seem to keep their sticky mitts off me.
When you're pregnant your belly goes public. As it grows and grows it's viewed as a lovely, yummy sticky-out thing, there, it would appear, not to grow a baby in, but for anyone who happens to notice it to give it a rub. And since everyone chooses to molest the one part of my body that I've always been self-conscious about, it's made my first experience of pregnancy extremely unpleasant.
    At a cocktail party early in my pregnancy I remember feeling quite proud until a boisterous Australian friend of mine snuck up behind me, put his arms round my belly and yelled: "Ooooh I can feel it kick." Even when I whipped around snapping that "it was still only the size of a king prawn and if he'd felt anything at all it was probably a bowel movement" he just laughed and said: "Aaaah, soooo sweeeet."
    The bigger the bump the worse it is. About a month ago I had to go to the wedding. With no booze and no swanky outfit to boost my confidence it was miserable. During the post-church standing around supping champagne stage, I felt like the party gimp as one guest after another came bouncing up to me, and rather than give me the usual double air kiss, they all dived straight under my deftly arranged pashmina and began grappling around for my bump. And just because I bristle like a porcupine the stroker in question gets offended.
    I'm judged as neurotic, hung up and hormonal and somehow doing them out of a deal. I blame the celebs. Ever since the likes of All Saints and Posh let the paparazzi's flash-guns loose on their bellies, never mind Kate, Catherine and Cherie, it's been accusingly fashionable to show off your bump.
    Pass me my poncho please. I couldn't disagree more.

 

June 8:  I found more coverage of Kate's pregnancy in this article in the Mirror -
"You Look Just Swell, Kate - Mum-to-be Joy" -
    It's the birth of a new era - and Kate Winslet is playing her part beautifully. Only a generation ago mums-to-be tried to mask their swelling tums in tent-like dresses. And words like "bump" were deemed politically incorrect. But Titanic star Kate has no time for such pretences. Yesterday, as she enjoyed the sunshine of Regent's Park in London, no one could be in any doubt that she is expecting. The 24-year-old actress proudly displayed the signs of her first child - due in September - by wearing a blue crop-top and draw string trousers.
    Down-to-earth Kate would be the first to admit she has taken her cue from other celebs. Demi Moore was an early pioneer - she was only a month from giving birth when she posed for the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. All Saints songbird Melanie Blatt, Spice Girl Mel G, Oasis star Noel Gallagher's wife Meg Matthews, actress Patsy Palmer and supermodel Helena Christensen have all since happily paraded their pregnancies.
    But there's a novel twist to Kate's blossoming figure. Her film director husband Jim Threapleton has told her he likes it so much he wants her to retain it even after their baby arrives. Kate laughed: "Jim is completely beside himself. The other day he said 'When we have the baby, do you think you could keep your tummy?'"
    It's no surprise that Kate has found her condition a delight. When she was accused of putting on weight for Titanic she rounded on her critics, insisting she'd rather be curvy and healthy than stick-thin. "It's nice to now really be able to indulge in being pregnant," she says. "I'm also coming into the enjoyable bit where you start to look quite healthy. Now the glow thing is starting to happen, which is quite nice."
    It's handy for her latest movie Enigma, too. Her role in the wartime thriller, produced by Mick Jagger, requires her to be slim in most scenes - and heavily pregnant in others.

The reporters must have "ganged up" on her in Regent's Park - the same quotes appear in both this article and the one posted immediately below.

 

June 8: Here is a great feature on Kate that I just found in the Daily Record/Mail!
"Kate's Baring Up So Well - It's Great Winslet: Pregnant Star Loves Her Bump" -
    Pregnant Kate Winslet is big and beautiful - and she wants the whole world to see her bump. Some mothers-to-be still hide their tummies in rent-a-tent maternity gear. But Titanic star Kate, 24, is glad to be growing. So she chose a cheeky crop-top for a stroll in Regent's Park yesterday, leaving no-one in any doubt that she is expecting her first child in September.
    She complained recently that her tum was not as large as she had hoped, saying: "I know people who got pregnant at the same time and they're huge. I was fully expecting to explode." Now, at almost six months pregnant, it's clearly a case of bigger is better. "It's nice to now really be able to indulge in being pregnant," she said. "I'm coming into the enjoyable bit where you start to look quite healthy. And the glow thing is starting to happen, which is quite nice. People have always told me I have childbearing hips. Now it's time to put them to good use."
    The pregnant look is big with the stars at the moment. All Saints' Melanie Blatt and Spice Girl Mel B were happy to flaunt their bumps before giving birth. Kate's new shape also suits her husband, film director Jim Threapleton, 26. She joked: "Jim is just completely beside himself. He said, 'When we have the baby, do you think you could keep your tummy?'. I think it's a sensual thing. I'll never be a stick insect because he won't let me. I told him that after the baby I'll go back to having a lovely flat stomach with a nice waist. But he said: "I don't want that one, I want that one!"
    Kate has always been proud of her fuller figure - whatever the critics might say. When she was sniped at after Titanic for putting on weight, she bluntly told her detractors that she would rather be healthy than stick-thin. And she drove the point home by scoffing bangers and mash at her wedding.
    That message will please campaigners trying to save young girls from anorexia and bulimia. They believe society's unhealthy obsession with thinness, especially that of skeletal, sunken-cheeked "supermodels", is a major reason why teenagers grow to hate themselves and fall prey to eating disorders.
    Kate has just finished filming war-time thriller Enigma, her last project before the arrival of her new family. The movie about World War II code-breakers, which also stars Fife-born Dougray Scott, is likely to be released early next year. Kate had to look slim in most scenes but eight months pregnant in others. So she did the thin work early in the shooting before putting on padding to play the mother-to-be. "They were anticipating me being a lot larger so they decided to pad me out," she explained.
    Now her work is over, she plans to spend the next few months "lying flat on my back" until the baby arrives.

 

September 11: Here are excerpts from interviews with Kate published today:


    [From LineOne News] The 24-year-old mother-to-be and her husband Jim Threapleton are looking forward to their new arrival and Winslet is even enjoying her pregnancy - although she admits she's having problems moving around as she gets bigger. She laughs: "I have started to waddle. If I'm lying down I have to roll on to my side first before getting up.  And I positively can't get out of the bath on my own. I sit there, going, 'Jim!' 'What?' 'I'm stuck!' 'What are you doing?' 'Well, I'm in the bath!"'
    The baby is due in October. Of course, Winslet and her husband recognise that motherhood will mean all sorts of changes. But will it change her?  "God knows. I think that's one of those unanswerable questions, I've no idea. You have to play so much of it by ear. A lot of people have been saying to me, 'Do you have a particular plan for the birth?'  And I don't think you can have a plan. Yes, I hope to be able to have a completely natural birth but if I'm having any problems, I'm not going to say no to gas or anything. You have to hope that your instincts will guide you."

    [From the UK Times] Kate, with her hair pulled back and her unmade-up face glowing, seemed friendly, and keen to engage in girlie chat about the baby ("due the first week in October," a publicist said later) and to tell how her husband, Jim Threapleton, 25, has been assisting her now that she can no longer comfortably touch her feet. "Jim's been fantastic. He's painted my toenails," she says, wiggling her one touch of glamour. "He bought me a kids' paddling pool and I've been sitting in it in the garden. It's a little inflatable one with fish around it. In the hot weather he fills it up with freezing cold water and I sit there looking like a whale."
    She grins happily, unconcerned by any loss of mystique. "It's meant to be the most sexy time of your life, but I've not felt that at all. I felt very hot and sat watching my feet swell up. There's a lot of pressure to bond with your unborn child, to visualise your child and to find this the most joyful experience. So if you've just wanted to lie in bed and cry all day long, as I did at first, you feel awful. Some days I wanted to throw Jim through the window, and I'd get angry so easily, which is not my way at all. It took a while to understand myself as a pregnant person, because you do change. I had morning sickness all day long, and even when that started to ease off I felt very tired. I felt really cynical about how you're meant to bloom, but I let myself relax and in the past ten weeks I felt really well."
    Kate will give birth in a private hospital but "not one that uses agency nurses", she says. "I can't stand the thought of our baby being delivered by someone I don't know." She plans a natural, drugs-free labour. "It's what we're designed to do, so we should bloody well get on with it. I'm stoical and have a pretty high pain threshold. I've had a good training for labour with some of my film roles, especially Titanic, when I was immersed for days in freezing tanks of water. If I need any help during the labour, we'll ring my acupuncturist. I've used acupuncture to help to balance my emotions and for my bad back. I've had a protruding disc for 18 months now and I was really worried that my back would become weak with the pregnancy, but it seems fine."
    Kate had not planned to have a baby yet. "Some people need to plan when to have their baby for financial reasons but that wasn't necessary. We were thinking roughly of having a baby soon and then it happened and we thought it was great."
    Apart from Enigma, her only other project this year has arisen out of her pregnancy. As a child, Kate had loved Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series. She approached Chorion Intellectual Properties, which holds the rights, and the result is The Enchanted Wood, the first in a series of three six-hour audio books read by Kate. "They are magical stories, slightly dark and ominous. Kids are now brought up on computers and mobile phones. Many would rather play a video game than read a book. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I think that the kind of magic in these books is important to a child's imagination."
         Kate and Threapleton who now works as a director and writer, set up their own production company, Telltale Films, earlier this year. "We're going to take it in turns to work and the baby will come with us. I had a great childhood without pots of money and we're determined not to spoil our child. I've been to dinner parties where the children are jumping all over the table with no respect for their elders. I was taught table manners, discipline and courtesy by my parents and Jim was by his. I have the utmost respect for my parents; I hope to bring the same attitude to bringing up our child."