LOS ANGELES - Kate Winslet accidentally cut her friend’s ear off. The 41-year-old actress harboured ambitions of becoming a hairdresser during her younger years, but when she took a pair of scissors to the locks of a family pal, it ended in gruesome fashion. During an appearing on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’, Kate recalled: ‘’A family friend - who was a fully grown man, ladies and gentleman - allowed me to cut his hair ... and I cut off a piece of his ear. ‘’I’ve never told this story on television ever in my life!’’

Jimmy was so shocked by Kate’s candid confession, he asked her to clarify.

And the visibly embarrassed actress confirmed: ‘’Yeah, I actually saw it fall.’’

The ‘Titanic’ star admitted the bloody incident left her feeling ‘’traumatised’’, thereby discouraging her from pursuing a career as a hairdresser.

Kate told the talk show host: ‘’It was a little nick, it wasn’t like a chunk. It was very upsetting, I was traumatised.’’

The ‘Mountain Between Us’ star is still in touch with her old friend and he is very ‘’proud’’ of the incident.

She said: ‘’I’m like, ‘Where’s the missing bit, Mick?’ And he’s like, ‘It’s my claim to fame!’ ‘’He’s proud of his little bit of missing ear. Bless him!’’ Though most people don’t even notice it, I can tell and he can tell; it’s our own special secret.’’

Meanwhile, Kate recently revealed she finds it hard to relax when she’s having a break from shooting movies.

The British star turns getting enough sleep into a ‘’project’’ when she isn’t working, because otherwise she doesn’t switch off and constantly worries about things she hasn’t done.

She confessed: ‘’I’m not good at massages or spa days - I think I would just be thinking of all the things I needed to do when I got back... ‘’When I’m not working, I almost try to make sleep a project. I don’t sleep in the day or anything, but I try not to stay up until midnight doing things.’’ Kate also said she can only trust herself when she wants a task completed to her own high standards.

The actress shared: ‘’My work ethic is no one is bloody going to do it for you. At the end of the day, if the chips are down and something goes wrong, you should only ever have yourself to blame.

‘’So dig deep, get on with it, and don’t complain.’’

CM