Winslet rushed to put on a bra before escaping blaze

Kate Winslet was thrown into confusion when confronted with the fire which destroyed Sir Richard Branson's Caribbean home in August (11) and the first thing she did was put on her bra.

The Titanic actress and 20 other guests were holidaying at the tycoon's luxury retreat in the British Virgin Islands when lightening struck the wooden property, setting it ablaze.

Winslet was hailed a heroine for carrying Branson's frail 90-year-old mother Eve to safety as the building burned around them.

But the Brit admits her brave actions only came after a few minutes of panic, revealing she rushed to put on her underwear before trying to escape the disaster.

She tells British TV host Graham Norton, "It was genuinely very scary. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning to yelling that there was a fire.

"I jumped up and ran immediately towards the fire but then realized we might die so turned around, told my children to go in and shut the door and then thought, 'Now what do I do?'

"I ran into the bedroom and put on a bra. In disastrous moments like that, you do the strangest things. I started to put on a bra and thought 'No, that's going to take me too long,' so off came the bra, on came the T-shirt, I grabbed the children and I picked up Granny."

The modest star went on to downplay her part in saving Branson's mother, adding, "No, I didn't save her life. I carried her down the stairs is the truth of it.

"We were all at the top of some very slippery stone steps and in the middle of a hurricane - it was so dramatic, there was lashing rain and it really did feel like being in a movie. In truth, I carried Eve Branson down the stairs.

"I have to say Eve Branson is an extraordinary stoic, powerful lady and she could have totally made it out on her own. I just helped that tiny little bit."