You may now refer to Kate Winslet as Mrs. Rocknroll.* The actress secretly married a guy legally named Ned Rocknroll in early December in New York City.
“I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned Rocknroll in NY earlier this month in a private ceremony attended by her two children and a very few friends and family,” her rep told People. “The couple had been engaged since the summer.”
The Daily Mail reports that Winslet’s “Titanic” and “Revolutionary Road” costar Leonardo DiCaprio walked her down the aisle and that the ceremony was so top secret that her parents didn’t even know about it.
Mr. Rocknroll, born Ned Abel Smith, is the nephew of billionaire Virgin Atlantic owner Richard Branson.
The Rocknrolls met in 2011 while the two were serendipitously staying on Branson’s island in the Caribbean at the same time. The couple’s relationship heated up when the mansion they were staying in caught on fire. Winslet is credited as saving the life of Branson’s 90-year-old mother and igniting a flame in Ned Rocknroll’s heart.
(For the record, Ned Rocknroll seemingly has no ties to the music business as one might reasonably presume given his choice of last name. He actually works for his Uncle Richard as Head of Marketing Promotion and Astronaut Experience for Virgin Galactic, the space-tourism arm of Branson’s conglomerate.)
This is the third marriage for Winslet. She was previously married to two English directors, Jim Threapleton and “Skyfall’s” Sam Mendes. The actress has a daughter with Threapleton and a son with Mendes, whom she divorced in 2010.
Rocknroll was “previously married to British socialite Eliza Cowdray, the daughter of a multimillionaire viscount,” according to the omniscient tabloid Us Weekly.
Congratulations to the Rocknrolls!
*Please note that there is no confirmation of whether or not Winslet plans to change her last name. Maybe this is why she wanted to keep the whole thing a secret — because her husband’s last name is Rocknroll.