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12 inspiring body-positive quotes from birthday girl Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet is proud to be imperfect (or just lovely and normal) and we LOVE her for it. And as the Oscar winning actress turns 41, check out our pick of her best ever musings on body confidence and weight – and prepare to be inspired by her no-nonsense attitude...
1. ‘When I grew up, I never heard positive reinforcement about body image from any female in my life. I only heard negatives. That’s very damaging because then you’re programmed as a young woman to immediately scrutinise yourself and how you look. I was chubby, always had big feet the wrong shoes, bad hair.’
2. ‘I stand in front of the mirror and say to [my daughter] Mia, ‘We are so lucky we have a shape. We’re so lucky we’re curvy. We’re so lucky that we’ve got good bums.’ And she’ll say, ‘Mummy, I know, thank God.’ It’s paying off.’
3. ‘I’m no stranger to the occasional dodgy juice, but it doesn’t taste very nice and it is bloody boring. It’s not a way to live.’
4. ‘As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, “I love my body”. Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, “I am so proud of my body.” So I make sure to say it to Mia [her daughter], because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.’
5. ‘I accept my body. I accept how I am and make the best of what I am given.’
6. ‘I have a crumble baby belly, boobs are worse for wear after two kids… I’m doing all right. I’m 33. I don’t look in the mirror and go, “Oh, I look fantastic!” Of course I don’t. Nobody is perfect. I just don’t believe in perfection. But I do believe in saying, “This is who I am and look at me not being perfect!” I’m proud of that.’
7. ‘I never had a desire to be famous. I never had huge ambitions – never. I was fat. I didn’t know any fat famous actresses. I just did not see myself in that world at all, and I’m being very sincere. You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid. Because you always think that you just look a little bit wrong or a little bit different from everyone else. And I still sort of have that. I often look at women who wear great jeans and high heels and nice little T-shirts wandering around the city and I think, “I should make more of an effort. I should look like that”. But then I think, “They can’t be happy in those heels”.’
8. ‘I believe it is important to go on insisting that normality is not what we are exposed to. Honestly, among my acquaintances there is no woman wearing XS. No, sorry, there is one: my daughter. The point is that Mia is 11 years old. It’s true that you need much time to get rid of the fat girl you once were, but you know I am sincerely grateful for my buttocks.’
9. ‘I don’t have parts of my body that I hate or would like to trade for somebody else’s or wish I could surgically adjust into some fantasy version of what they are.’
10. ‘I look like people that walk down the street. I don’t have perfect boobs, I don’t have zero cellulite – of course I don’t – and I’m curvy. If that is something that makes women feel empowered in any way, that’s great.’
11. ‘As a young girl, I never felt attractive. I was fat and unhappy at times, and that kind of thinking stays with you your entire life. There’s always going to be a part of me that worries about not looking as slim as other actresses. But at a certain point, when you achieve a lot of your goals and you can be proud of your work, you start to relax more about who you are. And that includes your appearance and self-image – I don’t think I look too bad for a mother of two. But women shouldn’t have to feel the pressure to compare themselves to actresses or models.’
12. ‘I don’t know how much I can be bothered to have to lose the [baby] weight. It’s such a pain… I’m not one of those people for whom it magically drops off.’