kate winslet this morning© Photo: ITV

Kate Winslet surprises young mum on This Morning after saving her life

Viewers took to Twitter to say they were in tears following the touching interview

TV & Film Editor
February 5, 2018

Kate Winslet struggled to keep her emotions under control during a phone conversation on This Morning on Monday. The actress surprised young mum Gemma Nuttall, whose life she helped saved by raising an incredible $1.3 million dollars by auctioning off a dinner with herself and her Titanic co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio. Gemma had joined Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby to discuss her treatment, when they took a phone call from Kate, with Gemma thanking the Oscar winner through tears for all her help.

© Photo: ITV

Gemma cried as she thanked Kate

Speaking about why she decided to help fundraise for Gemma, Kate sounded emotional as she explained that she had been searching for treatment for her own mother, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2017, when she stumbled upon Gemma's story online. She said: "My own mum was very, very unwell and I just thought my mum would be incredibly proud of us if I could do this for another young mum. It was just amazing."

She explained: "I can tell you exactly what happened. I lost my own mother last year in May to ovarian cancer and at the time that we as a family were given a very poor prognosis for my mum after a four year battle. We decided to look elsewhere and we also stumbled across these places in Germany and simultaneously I also came across this petition that had been set up on Change.org, campaigning to have immunotherapy available on the NHS. My heart sank. I then found her Go Fund Me page. I saw how much she needed to raise... I thought, 'I can't have this happen.'"

© Photo: ITV

Kate enlisted Leonardo's help

READ: Fans go wild for Holly Willoughby's latest outfit!

Speaking about enlisting Leonardo's help, Kate continued: "We got close to £200,000 and at that point I thought, 'It's time to call my friend Leo'. He said, 'We will auction off a dinner with Jack and Rose.' And we raised $1.3 million dollars… I could not be more thrilled and honoured to find you and your mum. And it actually worked. That's the real headline here. Things can be done when there's a devastating prognosis. There are miracles out there and this is one of them."

READ: Phillip Schofield marks the end of 2017 with star-studded karaoke night

Speaking about the touching moment, one person tweeted: "Sat sobbing watching @thismorning, Gemma and Kate are amazing," while another added: "Just wow! I was incredibly moved by this story. Gemma is an amazing young lady and I just wanted to be able to give her a big hug. Kate you are an inspiration! To help Gemma when your own world is falling apart is incredible."

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