Oscar nominee Kate Winslet said she has no plans to boycott this year's ceremony as she is rooting for her "closest friend" Leonardo DiCaprio to finally take home an Academy Award.
The 40-year-old actress, who starred opposite DiCaprio in James Cameron's award-winning movie Titanic in 1997, said she hopes Leo takes home the gong for his role in gritty adventure yarn The Revenant.
“To be honest with you it has been such an extraordinary year for women I’d feel like I was letting my side down if I didn’t go," said Winslet said on the red carpet of her latest film, US heist drama Triple 9.
“And also I feel very strongly that it may possibly be Leo’s year, and he is my closest friend in the world and I just couldn’t imagine not being there to support him. And I think those are reasons enough really to show my face."
Leo has been tipped for Oscar glory six times but has yet to win.
Kate Winslet congratulates Leonardo DiCaprio after he wins the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for The Revenant during The 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
The nominations for the Oscars on February 28 are mired in controversy after no black actors were shortlisted, with several high profile actors saying they may boycott the ceremony in Los Angeles in protest.
Halle Berry, the only black actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Lead Role, recently said she finds it "heartbreaking" that another actress hasn't been honoured with the trophy since her win 14 years ago.
Berry won the Oscar in 2002 for her role in Monster's Ball and she has revealed her disappointment that no actors or actresses of colour have been nominated at the Academy Awards for two years in a row.
"To sit here almost 15 years later, and knowing that another woman of colour has not walked through that door, is heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking, because I thought that moment was bigger than me. It's heartbreaking to start to think maybe it wasn't bigger than me. Maybe it wasn't," she said.
