Kate Winslet Refuses to Cover Her 'Belly Rolls' Despite Being Asked to 'Sit Up Straighter' While Filming: 'It Was Deliberate'
Kate Winslet is a talented actress — but she refuses to fake having the perfect body!
The 48-year-old recently opened up about weight-related experiences she's dealt with in the industry while reflecting on her starring role in the film Lee, which hits theaters in the United States on Friday, September 27.
In a cover story interview published Tuesday, August 6, Winslet revealed she was advised to fix her posture in order for her stomach to look flatter while shooting a swimsuit scene in the historical movie about real-life American war journalist Elizabeth "Lee" Miller — a fashion model-turned-famed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.
"There’s a bit where Lee’s sitting on a bench in a bikini," the Titanic star explained to a magazine. "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!'" Winslet recalled saying in response. "It was deliberate, you know?"
In fact, Winslet admitted she purposely stopped working out in the months leading up to filming to fully get into character.
When asked if having a "less-than-perfect" body bothered her, The Reader actress said it's actually "the opposite."
"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 shared.
Despite the recent comment from a crew member to hide her tummy, Winslet said she does "feel a huge sense of relief that women are so much more accepting of themselves and refusing to be judged."
"Because I don’t know a single contemporary of mine who grew up seeing her mother looking in the mirror and saying: 'I look nice!'"
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
"My mother never did: It was always, 'Oh God, I don’t think I can wear this, do I look hippy, does my bum look big?'" Winslet remembered of her childhood.
The Mare of Easttown actress declared: "We waste so much time being down on ourselves and I’m just not doing it ever again."
Winslet has always been outspoken about body positivity, as her physical appearance has been a subject of headlines since the start of her career many years ago.
During a 2016 appearance on TODAY, the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind star admitted she was even a victim of hurtful bullying while growing up.
"I was kind of bullied when I was younger, actually at school," she noted at the time. "For being chubby [or], you know, I had girls who were envious of me because I was acting a little bit as a teenager."
Harper's Bazaar interviewed Winslet for a recent cover story.