Kate Winslet insists she is not ‘brave’ for hitting out at Hollywood’s beauty standards in candid Vogue cover shoot: ‘All I’ve ever done is be a woman with an opinion’

By William On Sep 28, 2024

Kate Winslet has insisted she doesn’t consider herself ‘brave’ because she is passionately bucking Hollywood beauty standards in a new style. Fashion interview.

The actress, 48, has long been vocal about eschewing societal beauty standards and urging women to embrace a “real shape” instead.

Now Kate has ditched statements that she is ‘rebellious’ due to her outspoken beliefs against film industry norms, insisting she is simply ‘a woman with an opinion’.

The Titanic star instead, in the honest interview, she praised others she considers the real heroes in society, including those working on the front lines in Ukraine.

Appearing as the cover star of Vogue Australia in October, Kate also said she feels “lucky” to be able to showcase her “normal body” on screen and inspire others.

“All I’ve ever done is be a woman with an opinion. Curves? Call it a normal body that hasn’t been tightened and toned within an inch of its lifespan,” she told the publication.

‘No make-up on the screen? That’s not brave, I’m not in Ukraine, I’m an actor. I love my job, I’m very lucky to be able to do it. I’m not on the front lines.

“But let’s think of some other words, like ‘relief’ when we see normal women feeling happy on screen.”

Kate Winslet has insisted she doesn’t consider herself ‘brave’ for passionately breaking Hollywood beauty standards in a candid new interview with Vogue Australia

Kate went on to reflect on her most recent role portraying real-life American photojournalist Lee Miller in the recently released war biopic Lee.

She revealed some life lessons she learned from learning about Miller’s life while portraying her on screen, including not wasting time by not liking herself.

When asked what others can learn from Lee, she replied: “We shouldn’t waste so much time when women don’t like ourselves, don’t waste time thinking we’re doing something wrong, that we need to change, be more like that person over there . . Lee was… Lee.”

Kate portrays the World War II photographer in the biopic directed by Ellen Kuras, which was released in theaters on September 27.

Kate recently claimed she was told to hide her “belly rolls” during filming, a comment she found “absolutely bizarre” because Miller’s body “was supposed to be soft.”

She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: ‘My job was to be like Lee. She wasn’t lifting weights or doing Pilates, she wasn’t eating cheese, bread or drinking wine or making much of it, so of course her body would be soft.

“But I think we’re so used to it that maybe we don’t necessarily see that and enjoy it. Strangely enough, the instinct is to see it and criticize it or comment on it in some way.

Appearing as the cover star of Vogue Australia, Kate made statements that she is ‘rebellious’ for her beliefs, insisting she is simply ‘a woman with an opinion’.

The 48-year-old actress has long shunned society’s beauty standards and urged women to embrace a ‘real shape’ instead (she’s pictured in a Victoria Beckham dress)

“It’s interesting how many people like labels for women. And they really liked that in Lee’s day, and annoyingly they still do – we put these labels on women that we just don’t have for men. I think it’s absolutely bizarre.’

Kate said she thinks women should have conversations about the labels given to women depending on their body shape and “celebrate having real shape and being soft.”

She added: “Life is too short, you know that? I don’t want to look back and say, “Why was I worried about that?” And so, guess what? I don’t worry anymore. I don’t care.

‘I’m just going to live my life, enjoy it, carry on. You only have one chance: make the most of it.’

The blockbuster explores Miller’s journey from fashion model to acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.

Miller’s work took her throughout Europe, where she worked for the Allied forces and collaborated with American photographer David E. Scherman, a correspondent for Life magazine.

Her collection includes incredible photographs she took to document the end of the war, traveling to France less than a month after D-Day, and to document the siege of the heavily fortified town of St. Malo.

Kate recently claimed she was told to hide her ‘belly rolls’ while starring as photojournalist Lee Miller in a new war biopic (she is pictured with Andy Samberg as Davie Scherman)

She also witnessed the liberation of Paris, the Battle of Alsace and the horrors of the first soldiers arriving at the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.

And during a visit to Germany, David Scherman took a photo of Miller lying in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler’s Munich apartment, with the shower hose looped in the middle behind her head, resembling a noose.

The images became one of the most iconic of their partnership and showcased her infamous modeling skills.

She was one of only two female combat photographers during World War II and also one of the few female correspondents to venture into the liberated concentration camps.

Starring Kate as Miller in the biopic, the new release also stars Josh O’Connor, Marion Cotillard and Succession star Alexander Skarsgard.

WHO WAS PHOTO JOURNALIST LEE MILLER?

In addition to appearing in American Vogue, Lee Miller witnessed the horrors of Nazi Germany and became one of the most important photographers to document the 20th century.

Her talents were first put on full display in American Vogue in the 1920s, when she became one of the country’s most sought-after models.

Before World War II, she worked as a 1920s cover girl and collaborated with surrealist artists in Europe before embarking on a career in photojournalism.

In 1929, when her modeling career became controversial when her image was used in an advertisement for sanitary napkins, Miller went to Paris with the intention of apprenticing with the surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray.

She honed her skills under the guidance of the great photographers of her time, including Man Ray. She became her lover in the early 1930s.

She felt that photography was ‘particularly suitable for women as a profession, because it seems to me that women are faster and more flexible than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities faster than men.”

After living in Cairo for a while, she returned to Paris, where she met British surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose, who would later teach the use of camouflage in World War II.

Miller was living with Penrose in Hampstead, North London when the bombing of the city began, and decided to start a new career in photojournalism as the official war photographer for Vogue, where he documented the Blitz.

Her work would later take her throughout Europe, where she worked for the Allied forces and collaborated with American photographer David E. Scherman, a correspondent for Life magazine.

She was one of only two female combat photographers during World War II and also one of the few female correspondents to venture into the liberated concentration camps.

She also witnessed the liberation of Paris, the Battle of Alsace and the horrors of the first soldiers arriving at the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.

The images became one of the most iconic of their partnership and showcased her infamous modeling skills.

It is believed that Miller kept the address of Hitler’s apartment in her pocket for “years”, hoping to be one of the first to arrive during the invasion. After taking the bathtub photo, Miller took a bath in the tub and slept in Hitler’s bed.

After returning to Britain, Miller buried the record of her remarkable life in boxes in the attic of her Sussex home – and they were only found after her death by her son, who was able to record her exploits, according to the BBC.

She spent the later years of her life in England and died there in 1977, aged 70.