close
close

Kate Winslet Suffers Emotional Attacks Over Weight in ‘Titanic’: ‘It Was Absolutely Terrible’

Kate Winslet Suffers Emotional Attacks Over Weight in ‘Titanic’: ‘It Was Absolutely Terrible’

“What kind of person must they be to do something like that to a young actress who is just trying to figure it out?”

Kate Winslet has not forgotten the pain of being humiliated throughout the early years of her career.

While reflecting on his rise to fame with 60 minutesthe Oscar-winning actress recalled the media coverage that followed her following TitanicThe success of – much of which saw journalists scrutinizing his body.

“It was absolutely terrible,” Winslet said after an old clip aired of commentators discussing her dress size. “What kind of person must they be to do something like that to a young actress who is just trying to figure it out?”

PresleyAnn/Getty

Kate Winslet

When asked if she ever had the opportunity to confront any of the body-shaming journalists, Winslet replied: “I came face to face. I let them do it. I said ‘I hope this haunts you.'” Lee The actress became emotional, with tears in her eyes as she thought about this meeting.

She continued: “It was a big moment because it wasn’t just for me, it was for all these people who were subjected to this level of harassment. It was horrible, it was really bad. “

On the same subject: Leonardo DiCaprio finds Titanic his co-star Kate Winslet: “One of the great talents of my generation”

Winslet was 22 and just establishing herself in Hollywood when she landed the role of Rose DeWitt Bukater, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack Dawson. Today, at 49, the actress has developed thick skin and is not afraid to speak out against unfair double standards. To this day, Winslet noted that she still receives feedback about how her body appears in new projects.

“People say, ‘Oh, you were so brave for that role. You didn’t wear makeup. You had wrinkles,'” she recalls. “Do we say to men, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role. Did you grow a beard?’ No, we don’t.

She added: “It’s not brave. It’s acting.”

CBS via Getty Images

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”

Related: Chrissy Metz says exec asked if It’s us the role was intended for a plus-size actress “like Kate Winslet”

The actress, who will next play Vogue Elizabeth “Lee” Miller, model turned war correspondent, in Leesaid she even received comments about weight while filming the upcoming film.

“There’s a moment where Lee is sitting on a bench in a bikini,” Winslet previously said. Harper’s Bazaar United Kingdom“and a crew member came in between takes and said, ‘You might want to sit up straighter.’ So you can’t see my stomach rolling? Not on your life!”

She added that she has no worries about appearing less than perfect in front of the cameras. “It’s the opposite,” she said. “I’m proud of it because it’s my life on my face, and it’s important. It wouldn’t occur to me to hide that.”

Want more movie news? Register for Weekly Entertainment‘s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, movie reviews and more.

Despite all the negative comments, Winslet maintained that the industry — and the way people talk about women’s bodies — has started to change for the better. In 2021, she attributed the shift in attitudes to the #MeToo movement and women “feeling an inherent sense of connection with each other”. By discussing with The Guardianshe said she observed the changes herself, reviewing newspaper articles written about her in the late 1990s, when she was just 19.

“It was almost laughable how shocking, critical and downright cruel the tabloid journalists were to me,” she said. “They were commenting on my height, they were estimating my weight, they were printing the supposed diet I was on. It was judgmental and horrible and so upsetting to read. But… it also made me feel so… so emotional. How much it is different now.”

You can watch Winslet reflect on her career in the 60 minutes interview above.