Kate Winslet on confronting school bully and how to speak to young women about body image

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Kate Winslet on confronting school bully and how to speak to young women about body image

By Stylist Team

10 years ago

Kate Winslet has spoken about the body confident issues she had growing up and the inspiring message she now sends to her daughter because of it.

During a guest appearance on Running Wild with Bear Grylls, the star said, "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."

She said she ensures her 14-year-old daughter Mia - whom she had with first husband Jim Threapleton - has a positive outlook on body image. "I stand in front of the mirror and say to Mia, ‘We are so lucky we have a shape. We're so lucky we're curvy. We're so lucky we've got good bums," the actress said. "And she'll say, ‘Mommy, I know, thank God.'"

Winslet, 39, said she was bullied at school about the way she looked. "I was chubby, always had big feet the wrong shoes, bad hair. There was one girl who was particularly horrible to me."

After catapulting to fame following her role in 1997 blockbuster Titanic, the Oscar winning actress came across one of her bullies and decided to confront her.

"She was working on a beauty counter in a department store," said Winslet. "I went up to her and said 'I want to thank you for being such a b**** because it made me a lot stronger.'"

Winslet put her survivalist skills to the test during a grueling two-day trip in Snowdonia with adventurer Bear Grylls, which aired in the US this week.

The footage below shows her building a fire with a tampon and hiking through a mountainous terrain.

But never one to lose her sense of wit, the British star recreated the iconic 'flying' scene from Titanic while scaling a cliff face.

When Grylls asked Winslet to stop and spread her arms out wide, she put on her best American accent and shouted: "Jack, I feel like I'm flying." She then quickly asked Grylls to "get me down this f****** thing."

Referencing the challenging Titanic scenes that were filmed in water, Winslet added, "My biggest fear going into this challenge was that Bear would put me into a confined space with water. That is clearly something that I really don't like."

Watch Winslet rough it out with Grylls and relive the famous Titanic scene below.

Images: Rex Features, Instagram/beargrylls

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