I learnt what true love was at eight years old.
It was 1997 and my cousin, who was about 14 at the time, had taken me out to see Titanic*. As soon as I saw Jack walk up to Rose, hanging off the back of the doomed ship, and say, “Don’t do it” my life was forever changed.
Unsurprisingly, I developed a giant crush on Leonardo DiCaprio that would last well into my teenage years. But even though eight-year-old me wanted Jack Dawson all to herself (who knows what I wanted him for? To play Power Rangers with?), I couldn’t help but obsess over Kate and Leo, my own doomed ship, even then.
It tiny me.
I’ve been fiercely shipping the idea of a Kate and Leo romance for 21 years now (that’s longer than Kim Kardashian’s three marriages combined) and in that time, I’ve collected a big ol’ pile of evidence to support my theory that these two are soul mates.
Let me present you with the nine very serious and not at all over-analysed reasons I believe Kate and Leo belong together.
Kate plain refused to do Titanic with anyone else:
Kate heard Leo was umming and ahhing over the role of Jack, so she tracked him down and talked him into it:
“I was thinking, ‘I’m going to persuade him to do this, because I’m not doing it without him, and that’s all there is to it,’” she told Rolling Stone.
“‘I will have him.’ Because he is f***king brilliant.”
Their time on set sounds like the makings of a first love story:
During breaks they’d do things like stare out at the stars – literally the most romantic activity there is.
And Kate once recounted a time where Leo fell asleep with his head in her lap… If that doesn’t say “once-in-a-lifetime-kind-of-love” I don’t know what does.
They went to the Golden Globes together in 1998:
Toongabbie High Year 12 Formal 1998 vibes.
Did they clarify that they only went as friends? Yes. Am I choosing to ignore that piece of information? Also, yes.
Leo went on record in 2004 saying that Kate was his favourite on-screen kiss:
He told Oprah, “I’m just going to go with Kate Winslet, good old classic. Just because we did it more times than anyone could ever imagine.”
Sure, it’s not exactly a sonnet. But whatever, he still chose Kate.
They gush about each other all. the. bloody. time:
Leo on Kate – “She’s still as beautiful and radiant as the day I met her… She keeps pushing herself to an emotional truth when she’s working. That’s why I keep saying she’s the best.”
Kate on Leo – “Leo, I’m so happy I can stand here and tell you how much I love you and how much I’ve loved you for 13 years. I love you with all my heart, I really do.”
Oh, man. I’m getting emotional.
Leo keeps having flings with models in their 20s and IDK ‘bout you but I think this is because his heart belongs to another (Kate. It belongs to Kate):
Okay, so this is a theory based on no facts whatsoever other than his proclivity for dating Victoria’s Secret models half his age, but MAYBE Leo’s only had a handful of serious relationships because he’s waiting for his chance to be with his one true love and not because he’s happy to cruise into middle age on a raft of playboy clichés?
They look at each other like I look at my first coffee of the day (with true adoration):
Their star signs are compatible, so they have the universe on their side:
According to the 5-minute Google search I just completed, Leo’s sign (Scorpio) and Kate’s sign (Libra) are like the sour cream and onion of the zodiac world; not quite as compatible as salt n’ vinegar, but still an excellent pairing.
Kate has literally said that Leo is the love of her life:
Her exact words during an interview with Popsugar in 2014 were, “Leo is my love of my life”.
Now, can someone please Parent Trap this situation so we can finally get the love story we deserve?
CUTIIIIEEEEESSSS
*I should probably let you guys know that my cousin covered my eyes when Jack drew Rose like “one of his French girls”. I was in the second grade, after all.