Kate Winslet recalls being body shamed over her weight in 'Titanic': 'I wasn't even f***ing fat.'
Kate Winslet is speaking out about being body shamed following the release of her 1997 film Titanic.
The Oscar winner, who stars in Titanic director James Cameron’s new film Avatar: The Way of Water, appeared on Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy, Sad, Confused on Friday. Winslet recalled the controversy over whether or not both her character Rose and Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack could have fit on the door during that pivotal scene in the blockbuster.
While there has been much debate over the years about whether science would have allowed the door to float, Winslet said the conversation brought her back to being body shamed for how she looked in the film, telling Horowitz that people thought she was “too fat” for DiCaprio’s character to get on the makeshift raft.
“They were so mean. I wasn’t even f***ing fat,” The Holiday actress said. “If I could turn back the clock, I would have used my voice in a completely different way. … I would have said to journalists, I would have responded, I would have said, ‘Don’t you dare treat me like this. I’m a young woman, my body is changing, I’m figuring it out, I’m deeply insecure, I’m terrified, don’t make this any harder than it already is.’ That’s bullying, you know, and actually borderline abusive, I would say.”
Winslet called the hate “irresponsible,” and said that it encouraged young women to aspire to “ideas of perfection that don’t exist.”
“I just wish there weren’t quite so many comments on the physical form of actresses,” she continued. “You know, bodies are bodies. Everyone’s beautiful however they are and whatever they came with, you know. It still drives me kind of crazy. I definitely think we can do better with that stuff.”
Earlier this month, Winslet told Sunday Times that she was relegated to “fat girl” parts early in her career, and said that her agent would get calls asking, “How’s her weight?”
“As a middle-aged woman I care about being that actor who moves their face and has a body that jiggles,” she said of how things have changed.
Winslet, who is mom to Mia, 22, Joe, 18, and Bear, 9, also pointed out that Gen Z seems more capable of standing up for themselves against shamers.
"My daughter’s generation have an ability to speak for themselves,” she explained. “They have already learnt that they will be heard. Obviously not in every situation, but they know how to use their voice — especially young women. That’s striking to me. When I was younger you spoke when spoken to. That is not the case now. Young women are stronger. And they’re prouder of their bodies.”
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