Kate Winslet Fights Back Tears as She Recalls Being Body Shamed amidTitanicFame: ‘I Hope This Haunts You’

Mar. 15, 2025

Kate Winslet in October 2024.Photo:River Callaway/Variety via Getty

River Callaway/Variety via Getty

Kate Winsletstill remembers how it felt to be body shamed.

In a60 Minutesinterview released on Sunday, Dec. 1, the Oscar winner, 49, reflected on her career and fought back tears at one point.

While discussing her breakout role inTitanic, Winslet was shown anE! Newsclip from the 1998 Golden Globes red carpet, where an on-air host can be heard saying the actress looked “a little melted and poured into” her dress and that she “needed two sizes larger and she’d be okay.”“It’s absolutely appalling,” repliedThe Readerstar, who wonBest Actress at the 2009 Academy Awards. “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?”

“I let them have it. I said, ‘I hope this haunts you,’ ” she recalled saying.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet at the 1998 Golden Globes.Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Ron Galella Collection via Getty

“It was a great moment,” theLeeactress added as she fought back tears on60 Minutes. “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.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Winslet recently starred inLee, a biopic that follows famed photojournalist Lee Miller as she chronicled events of World War II forVogue.While shooting the film, which Winslet also produced, the star said she brought an “armor” to the role.

“People say, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role, you didn’t wear any makeup. You know, you had wrinkles.’ Do we say to the men, ‘Oh, you were so brave for this role, you grew a beard’? " Winslet asked.

“It’s not brave, it’s playing the part,” she continued.

A crew member onLeeeven suggested that Winslet “suck in and sit up” to avoid showing “lumps.” However, Winslet said she refused to hide her curves, noting, “I don’t think Lee would’ve done [that]. It’s about knowing Lee’s ease with her physical self was hard won.”

While promoting the film in October, themother of threespoke to PEOPLE at the Women in Film Gala about how she works through mistakes, emphasizing that she tries “not to be hard on myself.”

“I think women in general, we’re hard on ourselves all the time,” she said. “It’s a terrible waste of energy, and I don’t ever want to look back at my life and think to myself, ‘I wish I had been kinder on myself.’ "

“I want to do that now and always be doing that,” theHeavenly Creaturesstar added. “So that’s what I do.”

source: people.com