Video: Kate Winslet shares her Life Lessons
She may be a world-famous, Oscar-winning actress, but Kate Winslet is as refreshingly down to earth as everyone says she is.
With an oeuvre of work including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Revolutionary Road and of course, Titanic, Hollywood levels of grandeur are to be expected, but as she tells Harper’s Bazaar UK in the latest episode of our Life Lessons series, Winslet is every inch still a girl from Reading done (extremely) good.
It’s reflected in the 48-year-old’s style choices, with Winslet favouring comfort both on and off the red carpet.
“That’s a critical thing I’ve learned,” she explains. “When you’re on a red carpet, you’re wearing a dress that is corseted and boned, and you must stand and pose and sit in it for very long periods of time. It’s important to feel comfortable, otherwise you’re wishing the occasion away, desperately want[ing] to get home and put your pyjamas on, and that’s not the right way to feel.
“My personal style, in a funny way, has not evolved much. I’ve always been a jeans, comfy t-shirt and nice jacket sort of girl. I have made a decision recently that I am not going to go into shops anymore. I find them stressful. When something new comes into my life it’s usually from a shoot or it’s something my son doesn’t want to wear anymore, usually an oversized jacket.”
Winslet’s stripped-back approach also applies to her beauty regime, with the star (who claims to have never plucked her eyebrows, on her mother’s advice) a firm believer of being unfiltered and natural in her appearance. She previously jokingly formed the ‘British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League’ with fellow Oscar-winners Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz, and now Winslet finds beauty in areas that others may try and conceal.
“Women get more beautiful as they get older, for sure,” she says. “Our faces become more of who we are, they sit better on our bone structure, they have more life, more history. Things I find incredibly beautiful are wrinkles around the eyes, the backs of hands.
“But I also have learned it’s important to take care of yourself from the inside – not just how you eat and look after yourself from a nutritional standpoint, but how you look after yourself from a mental wellness standpoint; how you feel about yourself emotionally, physically, your place within the world, how you walk through the world, how you live with integrity and sincerity.
“I think these things matter and these things come out in how we look, and of course in how we feel. Beauty is more of a feeling, rather than what we look at.”
Winslet adds that she also feels more confident as she’s gotten older, both in her appearance and in her career. It may seem counter-intuitive to feel this way in Hollywood, which has previously worshipped youth and sidelined older actors in favour of fresh young talent, but the actress points towards seismic changes that have happened in the industry.
“We become more accepting of who we are and how our bodies and faces change, and how we learn from the lessons of life,” she says. “We have to become more accepting of ourselves and other people.
“When I first started out, it wasn’t the way around that women could have a voice and stand up for themselves. It certainly wasn’t the case that you could ever flag something you were uncomfortable with, because that would be seen as complaining.
“After #MeToo and the last decade within our industry, we’ve seen a huge upswell over roles for women. There are a lot of very new actresses doing incredible work, and I think all of that really contributes to an exciting industry that is full of people who know how to use their voices, and that becomes inspiring for others.
“Now, women are using their voices in a way that is remarkable, and that is how I too have learned my worth and how to use my voice.”
Indeed, Winslet is taking on some of her most critically acclaimed roles now, more than 30 years since she first turned her hand to acting; her widely praised HBO series Mare of Easttown was described by one critic as “career-defining”.
And this year proves to be equally busy; as well as starring and producing Lee, the biopic about the war photographer Lee Miller, she also starred and executive produced the HBO political satire The Regime. A second TV series, Trust, is also in the pipeline, seeing Winslet team up once more with the director Todd Haynes, with whom she worked on the 2011 miniseries Mildred Pierce.
Working with such a variety of people is something Winslet finds “rewarding” about acting, she explains. “There’s nothing like the company of phenomenal, good human actors who are resilient, stoic, hilarious and hardworking.
“When you’re all in something together, especially for a long period of time like shooting a TV series, you’ll be in each other’s pockets for six months. You all get to know a little bit about each other’s lives, how each other works best, and you look out for each other, which is very unique and very specific to the acting community.”
However, the actress is looking to now strike a balance between working hard on projects she loves, and spending time with her three children and husband of 12 years, Edward Abel Smith.
“Often I will feel at my most beautiful when I’m just relaxing. I’m working on achieving the relaxing thing more and more,” she says.
“Self-care for me means just having time to just simply be, and having the time to be kind to myself. As women, we try and keep up with the pace of our lives and we get frustrated if we haven’t managed to fit in doing some exercise or walking the dog for two hours or being there for every single sports day, drop off and pick up at school. I’m going easy on myself knowing I simply can’t achieve all of those things – that’s becoming increasingly important to me.”
And Winslet’s path towards a work-life balance echoes advice she’s held on to from good friend and fellow actress, Emma Thompson. “When I was younger, she said to me: ‘Listen babe, just remember, it’s really important to do good work, but it’s really important not to work,’” she recalls. “I’ve never forgotten that.”
Watch the full Life Lessons video with Kate Winslet, above.
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