Could Rose Have Saved Jack inTitanic? Resurfaced TikTok of Kate Winslet Reignites the Debate

Mar. 15, 2025

Kate Winslet in September 2024 and in ‘Titanic’ in 1997.Photo:Kayla Oaddams/FilmMagic;Shutterstock

Kayla Oaddams/FilmMagic;Shutterstock

Kate Winsletfully agrees with the manyTitanicfans who have noted that Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) definitely could have fit on that floating piece of debris at the end of the Academy Award-winning 1997 film.

At the time,Titanicwas approaching its 20th anniversary, andColbertpeppered a delightfully game Winslet with questions from his staff about theJames Cameron-directed film. One question took herTitaniccharacter, Rose, to task for the scene in which sheremains floating on an ornate wood panelafter the titular ship has sunk, while DiCaprio’s Jack freezes to death in the icy water.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in ‘Titanic’ in 1997.20th Century Fox/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

20th Century Fox/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

“In the famous line, you say ‘I’ll never let you go, Jack,’ ” Colbert noted. “But you do!”

“I lied,” Winslet admitted. “I agree,” she added, earnestly facing the studio audience. “I lie. I fully lie. I hold my hand up, I let him go.”

“Plus, he just should have tried harder to get on that door,” she continued, referencing a slight flaw in the otherwise beloved film that many fans have pointed out over the decades since its release.

Stephen Colbert and Kate Winslet on ‘The Late Show’ in 2017.The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/Youtube

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/Youtube

To prove the point, Winslet then suggested that she and Colbert reenact the scene, with her splayed across his desk and the host clasping her hands from the floor below.

“Promise me, Rose!” Colbert said. “Let me get up on that door with you!”

“Come on, darling! There’s room for two!” Winslet replied.

Colbert then hopped up on the desk alongside the Oscar winner as the audience cheered and Winslet triumphantly cried, “Yes!”

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Earlier this year, the wood panel upon which Rose — but not Jack — floated was among a cache of historic Hollywood props that were up for auction. In a March 25press release, auction house Heritage Auctions noted that theTitanicprop fetched the highest price, beatingIndiana Jones’ whip, Princess Leia’s blaster and an ax fromThe Shining.

“The wood panel fromTitanicthat saved Rose — but, controversially, not Jack — was the king of the auction,” Heritage Auctions’ release read, getting in a dig at Winslet’s character, “realizing $718,750 to float to the top of the five-day event.”The prop is now on displayat the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., before heading to the Titanic Museum in Branson, Mo.

source: people.com