Melanie Lynskey Got Candid About Her Friendship Breakup With Kate Winslet

Melanie Lynskey is getting real about friendships and looking back at one relationship that really impacted her. In Thursday's episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, the actress recalled growing apart from her Heavenly Creatures co-star and pal Kate Winslet.

"It was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I've had," Lynskey said referring to when the two friends "lost touch." "It was so painful. And it wasn't like anything happened — it's just she became a gigantic, international movie star and she didn't have a lot of time. And then, suddenly, she'd be in Los Angeles and not have time when I was living here."

As sad as it was to lose that friendship, Lynskey said it's just par for the course when it comes to relationships and life. "It just sort of gradually happened, and it happens in relationships; people kind of drift apart," she said. "But that was so painful for me."

The two first met on the set of the 1994 film, in which Lynskey played Pauline Parker and Winslet played Juliet Hulme. During the audition process, Lynskey was told by the movie's director Peter Jackson to study Winslet's tape which "set the bar" of acting for Lynskey. “This is how good you have to be," she recalled him telling her. Eventually she landed the role. “He must have felt like I had done that.” Lynskey and Winslet went on to star in the film together and become close friends.

Of course, the two friendly stars have run-ins from time to time. They caught up at the premiere of Lynskey's 2009 film Away We Go, and the actress said Winslet was "a huge inspiration" for her when it came to confidence and body positivity, according to People.

"I know she's a very, very confident person, but everyone's sensitive and she's very sensitive," Lynskey said at the time. "And the way she was dissected and talked about … I remember at the time being just so furious on her behalf. Especially because Kate Winslet is now in the world. Kate Winslet is doing movies. And you're getting to witness that talent. This is an actor who comes along once in a generation. Like, just focus on that!"