Kate Winslet did not lose herself in the moment.
The Titanic star stunned the crowd during Saturday’s taping of The Graham Norton Show by volunteering a never-before-told story from her 2004 gig hosting Saturday Night Live.
“When I was on, it was the week after Ashlee Simpson was done for lip-syncing. I’m then on with Eminem,” she told Norton and his assembled celebrity guests, who also included former SNL star and writer Seth Meyers, and British funny man Alan Carr, and the former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.
“This is a story I’ve never, never told,” teased Winslet, before claiming: “Eminem asked me to shave his bottom.”
“There’s always like a poo-bum theme for me when I come on the show,” Winslet joked, referring to a 2024 appearance on the chat program in which she recounted the time she “nearly did a poo on stage.”
Circling back to the Eminem revelation, Winslet recalled the 8 Mile star asking her, “‘Would you shave my butt?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t do personal grooming.’ Like, what? I’m not going to go with a BiC and get your crack, love! Never told that story before ever in my life, ever in public.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Eminem for comment.
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Winslet called the experience of hosting SNL “terrifying,” explaining that, because she was obligated to promote Finding Neverland at the same time, she wasn’t around for the development of her monologue.
After days of uncertainty and unclear indications from the series’ writers — which included Meyers at the time — Winslet recalled they finally asked her if she could sing and dance, specifically tap dance. She professed to a basic competency with both, to which they responded, “‘Perfect.’ I’m like, ‘So what’s the opening monologue?’ ‘We’ll get back to you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my god! Now what’s happening to me?! This is absolutely terrible.'”
Winslet recalled being given only “hours to learn” a complicated song and dance number which poked fun at Simpson’s widely mocked gaffe from the week prior.
Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty
Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Kate Winslet, Johnny Damon, and Eminem on ‘Saturday Night Live’ on Oct. 30, 2004
The Oct. 30, 2004 episode of SNL would be Winslet’s first and last time hosting the long-running sketch comedy program.
In 2020, she enthused that while she “loved doing SNL” and “would love to go back on,” she recalled the production as “a hotbed of anxiety” due to the Simpson ordeal. Earlier this year, Simpson herself reflected, “I don’t think if it was that moment in this era, it would be [like] that,” but “during that time, I mean, the bullying was insane.”
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