Actress Kate Winslet has spoken out about body positivity, encouraging women to embrace their “real body shape” after being told to sit up straighter on a recent film set to hide her belly rolls. In an interview with the BBC, Winslet discussed her upcoming film Lee, in which she portrays Elizabeth Lee Miller, a fashion model turned World War Two photographer.
Winslet emphasized that Miller wasn’t concerned with modern beauty standards, saying, “She wasn’t lifting weights or doing Pilates. She was eating cheese, bread, drinking wine, and not making a big deal of it. So, of course, her body would be soft.” Winslet urged women to celebrate their natural bodies, saying, “We’re so used to not seeing that and enjoying it. The instinct is to criticize.”
The Oscar-winning actress stressed that this conversation about body image and societal pressures is necessary, stating, “Life is too short. I don’t want to look back and think, ‘Why did I worry about that?’ So guess what – I don’t worry anymore.”
In a recent Harper’s Bazaar UK interview, Winslet recalled being told to sit up straighter on set to hide her “belly rolls” during a scene in Lee, where she was sitting in a bikini. Winslet responded defiantly: “Not on your life! It was deliberate.” When asked if she minded looking “less-than-perfect” on screen, Winslet proudly said, “The opposite. I take pride in it because it is my life on my face, and that matters.”
Winslet, a longtime advocate against body shaming, explained that she’s become more comfortable with herself as time goes on, allowing the opinions of others to “evaporate.”