Kate Winslet Tears Up Recalling ‘Absolutely Appalling’ Fat-Shaming Critics During ‘Titanic’ Fame

Kate Winslet‘s iconic role as Rose Dewitt Bukater in Titanic brought her both new levels of fame and some not-so-nice comments about her appearance.
The Oscar winner, 49, opened up about being fat-shamed by critics during the height of her Titanic stardom during an interview on the Sunday, December 1, episode of 60 Minutes. “It’s absolutely appalling,” she stated. “What kind of a person must they be to do something like that to a young actress who’s just trying to figure it out?”
Winslet’s 60 Minutes segment featured a clip of coverage of the 1998 Golden Globes, during which an on-air personality stated she looked “a little melted and poured” into the dress she wore on the red carpet with costar Leonardo DiCaprio. The host went on to state that Winslet needed a dress “two sizes larger.

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The clip was just a snippet of the criticism Winslet faced at the time. However, Winslet revealed that she took her power back after meeting “face-to-face” with one of her critics.
“I let them have it. I said, ‘I hope this haunts you,’” she recalled of the interaction before tearing up. “It was a great moment. It was a great moment because it wasn’t just for me. It was for all those people who were subjected to that level of harassment. It was horrific, it was really bad.”
Over the years, Winslet has developed an “armor” when it comes to dealing with other people’s opinions. The mindset is something she uses in both her everyday life and in her work, including her latest film, Lee.
“People say, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role. You didn’t wear any makeup. You had wrinkles,’” she said. “Do we say to the men, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role. You grew a beard?’ No. We don’t. … It’s not brave. It’s playing the part.”

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Lee, which hit theaters in September, tells the real-life story of Elizabeth “Lee” Miller (Winslet) who traded in her career as a model to become a World War II correspondent for Vogue. Earlier this year, Winslet told Harper’s Bazaar UK that a crew member told her to “sit up” to hide her “belly rolls” while filming the war drama. “It was deliberate, you know?” she told the outlet in August.
During her 60 Minutes interview, Winslet noted that she thinks the real-life Lee would have reacted the same way. “It’s about knowing that Lee’s — her ease with her physical self was hard won.”
At the end of the day, Winslet said she finds caring what other people think of her body “exhausting.”

Winslet spoke out about the struggles of her Titanic fame in an interview with Porter earlier this year, stating, “I felt like I had to look a certain way, or be a certain thing,” adding “My life was quite unpleasant.”
She stated that “being famous was horrible,” adding, “I was grateful, of course. I was in my early 20s, and I was able to get a flat. But I didn’t want to be followed literally feeding the ducks.”
Nearly 30 years after the film’s release, Winslet told Porter she’s happy Titanic “continues to bring people huge amounts of joy,” and that the only time she feels like “hiding” from her famous role is “if we are on a boat somewhere.”