Kate Winslet Reveals She Was Told To Take On 'Fat Girl' Roles During Her Early Acting Days

"Titanic" star Kate Winslet is opening up about the scrutiny she faced concerning her size much earlier in her career. The actress has had several comments aimed at her body weight dating back to the 90s.

In an earlier interview, Winslet revealed that the comments had negatively affected her confidence at the time; however, she grew out of it when she had her first child, Mia Threapleton. She disclosed that while raising her, she tried to build up Threapleton's confidence so she would have no skewed concept of body image.

Winslet recently spoke about her early days in the industry and how her agent was often asked about her weight. The mother of three also revealed that she was regularly told to go for "fat girl" roles as they were more in tune with her size.

Read on to learn more.

While talking to The Sunday Times, Winslet looked back on past events as a young actress when she was constantly body shamed. According to her, when she was up for roles, her agent was usually barraged with questions about her weight. Some unnamed producers had also called to inquire about the young entertainer's figure.

"When I was younger, my agent would get calls saying, 'How's her weight,'" Winslet recalled. She revealed that she eventually moved past constantly worrying about her weight and was more concerned with "being that actor who moves their face and has a body that jiggles."

She recalled going through tabloids and their unsavory comments about her and how she struggled with it. Winslet said, "It was hard enough having the flipping News of the World on my doorstep, but that doesn't even cut it now. That phrase about 'today's news being tomorrow's fish and chip paper' doesn't exist."

Winslet revealed that when she was younger, she was called "blubber" and told to go for "fat girl" roles. The "Titanic" actress compared the harshness of those times to how it was now with present-day social media. She revealed that the scrutiny and comments were so negative that it made it hard for many women to love and be proud of their bodies.

Winslet said, "It can be extremely negative. People are subject to scrutiny that is more than a young, vulnerable person can cope with." While not body shaming is not entirely gone, the actress disclosed that Hollywood at least was notably more inclusive now.

The actress advised young stars in the industry to be cautious and paranoid because the most little mistakes could come back to cause them harm. "The thing you did when you were drunk or foolish? It may come back to haunt you. Needing to be on one's guard for young actors is just a different thing. It must be extraordinarily hard," she said.

According to Winslet, her 22-year-old daughter, Threapleton, is much stronger than her when she was the same age. She also noted that people in her daughter's generation had cultivated the ability to speak up with the knowledge that they would be heard.

The actress explained, "My daughter's generation has an ability to speak for themselves. They have already learned that they will be heard. Obviously not in every situation, but they know how to use their voice — especially young women. That's striking to me. When I was younger, you spoke when spoken to. That is not the case now. Young women are stronger. And they're prouder of their bodies."

While the constant body shaming admittedly did a number on her, Winslet learned to stop caring about it after her daughter was born in 2000. In 2015, she explained that she tried to teach her daughter from a young age to love her body and curves in the face of criticism.

"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 that we've got good bums.' And she'll say, 'Mummy, I know, thank God,'" she revealed. "It's paying off."

Dating back to her time in movies like "Titanic" in the late 90s, Winslet was the recipient of massive body shaming from tabloid media and even famous people like Joan Rivers. The late show host famously said, "If Kate Winslet had dropped a few pounds, the Titanic would never have sunk."

During a February 2021 interview with The Guardian, Winslet reflected on the body shaming comments of that period and how she was labeled "ballsy and outspoken" when she only wanted to defend herself against the unwelcome comments.

Winslet also recalled some articles about her in her late teens and early 20s and how "straight up cruel" she was treated by tabloids. The actress said, "I was still figuring out who the hell I bloody well was! They would comment on my size; they'd estimate what I weighed, they'd print the supposed diet I was on. It was critical and horrible and so upsetting to read."

The mother of three admitted that her self-esteem suffered from the comments, and she almost stopped herself from going to Hollywood. "Also, it tampers with your evolving impression of what's beautiful, you know? I did feel very on my own. For the simple reason that nothing can really prepare you for… that," Winslet added.