Kate Winslet’s dark discovery
Kate Winslet broke down, as she unearthed shocking secrets about her family
Hollywood star Kate Winslet, 43, was devastated to find out the grim fate of her 19th-century Swedish ancestors – having discovered they had struggled just to survive, after a series of crop failures blighted their country.
Her four-times greatgrandfather, Anders Jonsson, was a groom on an estate where workers got paid in tokens rather than cash, essentially meaning they could never leave. Anders and his wife, Anna, had five children, but in the turmoil of famine in 1831, their infant son, Gustaf, tragically died from malnutrition at just three months old.
The Titanic star discovered Anders was jailed five months later, after stealing some potatoes. ‘Good for you – I’ve stolen potatoes, too,’ she said. ‘That’s horrible, though. He was trying to do the right thing for his children.
‘They say he’s got “weak body constitution” – he was starving!’
Anders was also sentenced to a ‘flogging’ when it emerged he and his pal had stolen two beehives, but the horrific punishment was never meted out as he died from typhus in prison, aged 43.
An emotional Kate said, ‘I feel so angry now. It’s just not fair. His poor wife lost her baby and her husband within six months, and was left with four children – including my great-great-great grandfather, Johan Christian. Johan would have been five, the same age as my youngest. The thought of Bear being without his dad… my God, I can’t stand it.’
Things got worse for Johan, as he was discharged from the navy in 1859 for ‘embezzling from the crown’ and was flogged 40 times.
He then became a tailor – a trade he passed on to his only surviving child, Kate’s greatgreat grandfather, Alfred Johansson Lidman, who moved to London and set up shop on Savile Row.
Kate reveals on the show, which airs on BBC One next month, that she had no idea of her mum Sally’s Swedish ancestry.
Crying as she spoke of her mum, who died of ovarian cancer two years ago, Kate says, ‘She was an amazing lady. We miss her terribly. She was the centre of the family.
‘ When Mum died, it was like the North Star just dropped out of the sky. Mum would absolutely have come with me on the journey.’
But letting in some light at the end of a very dark tale, Kate does claim that she was happy to hear there were no ‘posh’ people in her ancestry – ‘I’d have been upset and disgusted.’ Quite, Kate...
Who Do You Think You Are? is on BBC One on Mondays at 9pm
‘I feel so angry now… it’s just not fair’