Not on Winslet’s watch.
Kate Winslet recently shared an experience she had when filming the World War II drama “Lee,” when a crew member suggested she sit up straighter to hide her “belly rolls” during a bikini scene.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK published on Tuesday, Winslet, 48, recounted, “There’s a bit where Lee’s sitting on a bench in a bikini and one of the crew came up between takes and said: ‘You might want to sit up straighter.’ So you can’t see my belly rolls? Not on your life! It was deliberate, you know?”
The actress dismissed the suggestion immediately because she felt the softer look was right for her character in Lee Miller — a photojournalist who goes from shooting for British Vogue to documenting the frontline. She even revealed that she intentionally stopped working out for the part.
When asked if she worries about not looking perfect in her roles, she firmly replied “no.”
“The opposite,” she added. “I take pride in it because it is my life on my face, and that matters. It wouldn’t occur to me to cover that up.”
Winslet has been vocal about body shaming in the entertainment industry due to her own experiences as a young actress, but the comments don’t get to her anymore.
“There was a lot of bullying of me that went on in the media, and that did get to me. Look at all those years in my twenties when I was all sorts of different shapes and sizes,” she said.
“I think people know better than to say, ‘You might wanna do something about those wrinkles,’” the “Titanic” star continued. “I’m more comfortable in myself as each year passes. It enables me to allow the opinions of others to evaporate.”
Years ago, she criticized a 2003 GQ cover, claiming her appearance was “digitally altered.”
“I do not look like that and more importantly I don’t desire to look like that,” she stated. “I actually have a Polaroid that the photographer gave me on the day of the shoot… I can tell you they’ve reduced the size of my legs by about a third. For my money it looks pretty good the way it was taken.”
In 2015, Winslet mandated in a L’Oréal contract that her Lancôme ads leave her appearance untouched.
“I do think we have a responsibility to the younger generation of women. I would always want to be telling the truth about who I am to that generation because they’ve got to have strong leaders,” she told E! News at the time.
Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Jude Law, Josh O’Connor and Marion Cotillard round out the star-studded cast alongside Winslet in “Lee.”
The film hits theaters on September 27.
