“He Could Have Actually Fitted”: Kate Winslet Finally Admits She Let Leo Die In ‘Titanic’

The question of whether tormented upper-class beauty Rose DeWitt-Bukater cruelly murdered objectively perfect human Jack Dawson at the end of Titanic is one of cinema’s greatest controversies. Once the ship sank in the middle of the north Atlantic Ocean, the lovers turned a door into a makeshift raft which Rose then floated atop to protect herself from the sub-zero temperature of the water. Then, depending on which school of thought you subscribe to, Rose either graciously tried and failed to give Jack room on the board, or she effectively shrugged and quietly resigned herself to the fact the love of her life was going to freeze to death in front of her eyes.

The internet is fairly convinced by the latter.

In response to this, the film’s director James Cameron has repeatedly claimed “it’s not a question of room; it’s a question of buoyancy”. “Jack puts Rose on the raft, then he gets on the raft — he’s not an idiot; he doesn’t want to die — and then the raft sinks. So it’s clear that there’s really only enough buoyancy available for one person. So, he makes a decision to let her be that person.”

Then in 2012, after more than a decade of passionate debate about the moment, Mythbusters proved once and for all the two characters could have survived. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman recreated a board to the exact specifications of the door, took to the nearest lake, and found plenty of ways to keep the thing buoyant with two people. Though they struggled at first, the plank eventually became stable and was made all the more strong when Jamie tied a lifejacket (as Rose was wearing in the film) to its underside.

“I think you guys are missing the point here,” Cameron told the pair straight after. “The script says Jack dies. He has to die. So maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a little tiny bit smaller, but the dude’s goin’ down.”

Now, in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel overnight about her appearance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and enduring relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio, Rose herself has admitted to the deed. “I think he could have actually fitted,” Kate Winslet said, just casually, as if it didn’t just resolve 19 years of frustrated speculation and debate.

You can watch the full interview here:

Or, alternatively, you can turn your back on the words of a dirty murderer and console yourself with this sexy Young Leo Vine on repeat until you die.