Kate Winslet (Understandably) Ducked Out Of "Labor Day" TIFF Premiere

Kate Winslet honored the unwritten Hollywood tradition of stars not staying to watch the premieres of their own films and skipped out on the Toronto Film Festival showing of Labor Day. However, while many actors are simply not interested in seeing themselves on screen, Winslet not attending was intentional and related to the actress’s own pregnancy, as she revealed during a rather awkward exchange at the post-screening Q&A.

Jason Reitman's Labor Day premiered at TIFF this weekend, but not without some controversy.

The film, directed by Jason Reitman, stars Winslet as the troubled and reclusive Adele. Her character in the film is pregnant and, without giving too much away, the intense drama features some childbirth-related moments, which quickly became the subject of discussion after the screening. While most were hesitant to bring up the topic around the visibly pregnant Winslet, one apparently foreign journalist broached the question rather indelicately. According to Entertainment Weekly, the interviewer asked: “In the screen, the pregnancies go so bad. Had you ever thought about you such a hard story in real life.”

Winslet and co-star Josh Brolin pose together at the TIFF Labor Day photocall.

When asked to clarify, the journalist explained to Winslet and the noticeably uncomfortable members of the audience: The pregnancy part of the movie being so hard. If during her own pregnancy, if she thought about it at all.”

Winslet had personal reasons for her absense from the premiere.

The actress was apparently unfazed and, after initially trying to dodge the question, she then answered: “Emotionally, it was very hard and those scenes were very difficult. Actually, I chose not to see the film tonight because it’s just weird to do that right now.”

The film's subject matter hit a little too close for the actress.

Overall, the film, telling the story of a pregnant mother of one, who gets kidnapped while on a shopping excursion with her son, was well received at the festival, much like Reitman’s other five features, which have screened in Toronto in previous years. Labor Day will see a limited release on Christmas Day 2013 and will screen in theatres across the US a month later, from January 31, 2014.

Overall, Reitman's film was well received.