Kate Winslet opens up about heartbreaking past
Titanic star Kate Winslet has opened up at a conference, speaking candidly and sharing heartbreaking details about experiences she has endured in her past.
Addressing a crowd of 12,000 at the fourth annual WE Day UK event at the SSE Arena in Wembley, the Oscar-winning actress admitted to being mercilessly bullied as a child for her weight, and because she has aspirations to one day be an actress.
Winslet said, “I had been bullied at school. They called me Blubber. Teased me for wanting to act. Locked me in the cupboard. Laughed at me.
“I was even told that I might be lucky with my acting, if I was happy to settle for the fat girl parts. I felt that I wasn’t enough, I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t look right … and all because I didn’t fit into someone else’s idea of ‘perfect.’ I didn’t have the perfect body.”
Winslet, who has been candid about her experiences with bullying in the past, stressed the importance of choosing the higher road, and said she never let the abuse get in the way of her acting.
Winslet said, “I would often get cast as the crocodile, or the scarecrow, or the dark fairy, I was even a dancing frog once. But it didn’t matter. I still loved it. I loved acting. It didn’t matter how big or small the parts were. I wanted to be great and I was determined to keep learning.”
And it was this dedication that finally paid off, as Winslet explained: “One day, I was cast as Rose in Titanic. The most unlikely candidate, Kate from the sandwich shop in Reading, suddenly acting in one of the biggest movies ever made!”
It’s great to see how far she’s come, but it’s a reminder that no one is immune to bullying.