Kate Winslet Opens Up About Weight-Shaming by Childhood Drama Teacher on Desert Island Discs

Kate Winslet used BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs to publicly confront a childhood drama teacher who fat-shamed her, telling the aspiring actor she would only succeed if she accepted 'fat girl parts.' The Titanic star, now 50, spoke with host Lauren Laverne about the cruel feedback she endured and how it shaped her drive to perform.

Winslet recalled that the remark came as she began taking acting more seriously and pursuing a child agent, and she noted that the memory has circulated with varying details about the teacher's gender. She told Laverne: 'Well darling, you'll have a career if you're happy to settle for the fat girl parts.' She added: 'Look at me now!' and 'That wasn't very nice, was it? It's appalling the things people say to children.'

Winslet described years of bullying by classmates over her weight, including taunts that she was stocky, and she said they would lock her in the art cupboard. She recalled, 'They would call me blubber. I wasn't even overweight. I just had stocky thighs, and they would lock me in the art cupboard, and they would say, 'Blubber's blubbing in the art cupboard' and things like that.' The relentless taunts followed her from primary school into secondary school, when she was on the cusp of a breakout acting moment.

She said the bullying intensified during her teens and worsened when she landed a starring role in the BBC drama Dark Season at age 15. 'They hated me then. I remember going back to school and they had pushed my desk into a corner and moved their desks to the other side of the room,' she said. Yet Winslet said she learned to cultivate a thick skin and channeled her energy into her theatre company and other creative pursuits, insisting that the school’s cruelty became increasingly insignificant to her as she focused on her trajectory.

'I wouldn't let them spoil a trajectory that I was determined I was on,' she said, describing how she built a sense of purpose beyond the classroom. The actress, who has criticized magazines for shaping appearances and who has long avoided cosmetic procedures, also spoke about aging with grace. 'I live my life with intention and integrity, having a face that moves. I have to. That is also how I do my job. I want to play characters who have wrinkles and crow's feet and a face that is changing with age and a body that is moving with the passing decades. That's life.'

Off screen, Winslet has directed her first feature film, Goodbye June, from a screenplay written by her son Joe Anders, marking a new chapter in her career. The project arrives as she remains one of the most celebrated actors of her generation, with an Academy Award for The Reader and six more Oscar nominations, along with five BAFTAs.

Desert Island Discs is scheduled to air today at 10 a.m. on BBC Radio 4 and is available via BBC Sounds.