Kate Winslet has issued an unprecedented letter to newspapers through her solicitors, denying she gave an interview, "exclusive or otherwise", to the Mirror.

In an unusually controlling move, the star of Titanic and Hideous Kinky has issued a statement through her lawyer, Keith Schilling.

Winslet, whose affair with the American Beauty director Sam Mendes recently became public, denied she had spoken about the break-up of her marriage

"My client attended a press conference in LA relating to the film Iris at which a number of journalists attended," said Mr Schilling.

He said she did not "talk frankly about the reasons behind the break-up [of her marriage]" to John Hiscock or anyone else as is claimed in the Mirror of Tuesday.

Articles by the freelancer Hiscock appeared in both the Mirror and the Daily Telegraph.

Both detail Winslet's approach to marriage following her split from director Jim Threapleton, the father of her daughter, Mia.

In both she speaks of her belief in "true love" and that marriage should be "a meeting of two minds and two souls".

But Winslet seems to have objected to the Mirror's use of the word "exclusive" on the piece.

Celebrities have become increasingly controlling in their approach to newspaper interviews, with many demanding and receiving copy approval as a matter of course.

But this bid to control the paper's editorial approach to an interview by a freelance is unusual.