Melanie Lynskey 'heartbroken' as she 'excruciatingly' lost touch with Kate Winslet

Melanie Lynskey has revealed that she was left absolutely 'heartbroken' after she 'excruciatingly' lost touch with Kate Winslet.

The pair first crossed paths as teenagers, whilst working on the set of the hit 1994 crime-thriller, Heavenly Creatures, and soon developed a fast friendship together.

However, when they eventually drifted apart, it's clear that Lynskey - who recently appeared in The Last of Us - was left totally reeling after losing her co-star turned bestie. Have a look at the pair in action here:

The dynamic duo starred in the movie when they were just kids, with Lynskey just 16 at the time and Winslet only a few years older at 19.

Directed by Peter Jackson, the man behind other thrillers including The Lovely Bones and the famed Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy, the flick followed the true story of close friends who shared a love of fantasy and literature.

Taking the coming-of-age tale to a whole new level, the young girls then conspire to kill one of the their mothers when she tries to end the pair's intense and obsessive relationship.

The film was based off the notorious Parker-Hulme murder case, which took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, back in 1954.

The two teenagers, Pauline Parker (Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Winslet), murdered Parker's mother, Honora, played by Sarah Peirse. Spanning the period from the pair's meeting in 1952 to the eventual murder in 1954, the movie was definitely not a light watch.

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Since then, Lynskey has reflected on what it was like entering the Hollywood biz at such a young age and how she developed a - what she thought would be - life-long friendship with her co-star.

Speaking to TIME back in 2012, Lynskey revealed that she and Winslet shared a 'very intense' bond with one another and 'couldn't let it go'.

"We would write each other letters and talk on the phone all the time," she added, "we were in constant contact for so long."

However, everything seemed to change as the film finished wrapping up, when Winslet starred in Titanic some years later in 1997 alongside a baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio.

The two ended up drifting apart and eventually lost touch altogether after embarking on separate career paths.

Speaking on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast last week (20 April), Lynskey explained just how much the loss of friendship affected her as a teenager.

Miramax

She said: "When I lost touch with Kate, it was more heartbreaking than some breakups that I've had."

The Yellowjackets star continued: "It was so painful and it wasn't like anything happened, it's just she became a gigantic, international movie star and she didn't have a lot of time and then, suddenly, she'd be in Los Angeles and not have time."

Upon reflection, Lynskey explained that their separation was something that just 'gradually happened' over a period of time and wasn't down to any one reason in particular.

"It happens in relationships," she resolved. "People kind of drift apart, but that was so painful for me."