Kate Winslet Says 'SNL' Was A 'Hotbed Of Anxiety' After Ashlee Simpson's Lip-Sync Blunder

Kate Winslet recalled her guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in 2004, a week after Ashlee Simpson's lip-sync gaffe and said the studio was a "hotbed of anxiety" at the time.

Winslet performed on "SNL" 16 years ago and she found it stressful because it took really long for the writers to come up with a monologue for her. The studio was probably pressured due to Simpson's awkward appearance a week prior when the singer failed to sing along the pre-recorded track of her single "Pieces of Me."

"When I did ‘SNL,’ I was on the week after Ashlee Simpson. I was the next show after," Winslet said at the Hamptons International Film Festival's "A Conversation with..." series.

"Let me tell you, that studio was just a hotbed of anxiety," she added.

"They kept saying to me, ‘Kate we’re so sorry, we just don’t have it yet, we’re not ready, just give us a moment.'"

When Friday rolled and Winslet still had no opening monologue, she started to panic. She also pressured them to come up with something.

"I’m, like, guys please make something up. Let me make something up. They’re like, ‘Can you tap dance?’ and I went, ‘I can actually, ya.’ They’re like, ‘Perfect, you’re going to tap dance and you’re going to sing,’" Winslet continued.

The "Titanic" star learned the tap routine and song in three hours. Then they did a dress rehearsal and started recording the show live. Despite what she experienced on "SNL," Winslet is still open to returning to the show because she loves doing it.

"I loved doing 'SNL'. God, the adrenaline. I’d love to go back on 'SNL'," Winslet said.

"That was kind of how I started in so many ways. Just doing fast-pace sketches and sort of amateur theater.”

For Winslet, doing sketches is fun and it offers a united environment where "everyone's in it together" and they just carry on even when things go wrong. She found the whole thing "absolutely brilliant.”

Meanwhile, Simpson blamed her band for the mistake during her appearance on the show. She also considered it the "most embarrassing moment" of her life.