Kate Winslet has strong views about perceptions of aging and how women are treated by the media - her inspiring words will stay with you for a long time once you've heard them.
Kate Winslet is not shying away from the important topics affecting women, often ones that cause anxiety and have been hidden away by society. She's a huge advocate for getting your hands on the best menopause care, speaking openly about using testosterone in her own menopause routine to get her sex life back on track.
Not only is the Mare of Easttown actress is one of a number of high profile stars dispelling myths surrounding hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in menopause and perimenopause care and reducing stigma surrounding its use, she's also incredibly vocal about the pressure to remain ageless, and the often unsettling treatment of women by the media. During an interview with Haper's Bazaar, Kate's words on aging were so profound, we found ourselves thinking about them for a long time afterwards.
The 49-year-old star deliberately tries to look imperfect on screen, because it matters strongly to her that women love their authentic selves and don't become consumed by the natural process of aging. "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," she says.
She's rightly proud of the lack of cosmetic procedures keeping her face just how it is, and even more delighted that others know better than to put pressure on her to have work done. "I think people know better than to say, 'You might wanna do something about those wrinkles'," she reveals, adding "I’m more comfortable in myself as each year passes. It enables me to allow the opinions of others to evaporate."
Kate is also vehement about being body-positive - a trait she's gone out of her way to instil in her daughter, Mia, and another characteristic she hopes will shine through her during performances. For her latest film Lee, the star deliberately stopped exercising to make her body softer, and made sure she had some body fat on show.
Recalling a moment during filming, she says, "There’s a bit where Lee’s sitting on a bench in a bikini... 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! It was deliberate, you know?"
When Kate first skyrocketed to global stardom, she was surprised to find the media were obsessed with her weight and appearance. Instead of focussing on her incredible achievements, the message from the tabloids was clear - if you're a woman you need to conform to a certain body shape and appearance, and the actress took a long time to come to terms with the affect this had on her mentally.
She's now equally as vocal about treatment of women in general by the media, in the same way her views on aging make women everywhere feel better about themselves. "We label women all the time – it drives me mad," she says. Speaking the titular character she portrays in the Lee movie, she concludes, "If you think about how Lee’s described, it’s: 'outspoken', 'headstrong', 'determined' – these big, fat words... We don’t describe men as ballsy or outspoken, because men just say whatever they want to say and do whatever they want to do, and it’s expected and permitted, but when a woman does that, we slap her with a label, and it sticks. No! I’m just saying what I think, I’m just being honest."
