Mia Threapleton, 24, says her mother, Kate Winslet, influenced her decision not to have social media.
In an interview with Elle published on Thursday, the actor spoke about her upbringing and how her famous mother shaped her decision to live a private life.
Threapleton told Elle that she doesn’t have any social media accounts and doesn’t plan on creating them anytime soon.
“People say, ‘Oh, well done,’ to not having it, but I’ve never had it, so I don’t really know what the ‘Well done’ is for. I don’t want it. I don’t want to worry about dropping my phone out of a tree if I’m climbing one because I’m trying to take a photo of something,” Threapleton said.
Part of it comes from the intense public scrutiny her mother faced at the height of her “Titanic” fame. Winslet has spoken multiple times about how she felt bullied and bodyshamed by the media after the movie came out.
Threapleton said her mother made a point to instill body confidence from a young age, including times when she was insecure about showing her shoulders while swimming.
“My mom said, ‘No, this is strong. So many people would love to be able to swim the length of the pool the way you do — think of it as a positive thing,'” Threapleton said, recalling her mother’s words.
This isn’t the first time that Threapleton has spoken about how her mother played a role in her decision not to use social media.
In a May 17 interview with The Times, Threapleton said her mother encouraged her to make a list of pros and cons for joining Instagram when she was 14.
“The cons completely outweighed the pros for me. That was quite a clarifying moment. Since then, the more time I spend in this world, the more I’m really happy that I don’t have it,” she said.
Winslet herself has also been vocal about the harmful impact of social media on kids.
In 2023, during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour,” the “Little Children” actor spoke about why she believes kids shouldn’t have social media and smartphones.
“It’s tampering with, sometimes, a very basic level of self-esteem. But on a bigger and darker scale, it’s tampering with young people’s self-esteem to the extent that they are completely losing a sense of who they are, and don’t know how to communicate not just with their friends but their families,” Winslet said.
Several countries around the world are trying to implement stricter controls on social media use for kids.
In November, Australia’s government approved a law banning social media for children under 16. Norway also announced last year that it was exploring a sweeping social-media ban for children under 15.
Representatives for Threapleton and Winslet did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
