Kate Winslet recalls childhood drama-teacher fat-shaming on Desert Island Discs

In today’s edition of Desert Island Discs, Kate Winslet said she was shamed by a childhood drama teacher for her weight, told she would only succeed if she was happy to settle for the fat girl parts. The Titanic star spoke with host Lauren Laverne about the bullying she endured at school and how it shaped her resolve to pursue acting. Winslet noted that the teacher was widely assumed to be a man, but was actually a woman.

"Well darling, you’ll have a career if you’re happy to settle for the fat girl parts," she recalled the teacher telling her. She added: "Look at me now!" and described the remark as not very nice and appalling the things people say to children. Winslet said she faced jeers from classmates who mocked her weight, including taunts that labelled her as blubber and even being locked in the art cupboard as a child.

She said the bullying persisted into her teenage years and intensified when she landed a starring role in the BBC drama Dark Season at age 15. "They hated me then," Winslet said. She recounted returning to school to find her desk shoved into a corner while others rearranged themselves, a moment she said underscored the social cruelty she faced. Yet she added that she learned to cultivate a thick skin early on and channel her energy into her theatre company and creative pursuits outside school, which helped her keep the taunts in perspective.

Winslet’s career trajectory would later prove the naysayers wrong. She won an Academy Award for The Reader and has earned six additional Oscar nominations, along with five BAFTAs. She has also directed her first feature film, Goodbye June, a project brought to life from a screenplay written by her son, Joe Anders. The experience of directing marks a new chapter in a career defined by resilience and prolific achievement.

Beyond the accolades, Winslet described a philosophy about aging that runs counter to much of Hollywood’s cosmetic emphasis. She said she rejects cosmetic procedures and magazines that promote a narrow standard of beauty, emphasizing instead a commitment to aging with dignity. She spoke about wanting to portray characters with wrinkles and a body that moves through time, arguing that a movie star’s face should reflect lived experience as much as screen presence.

"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." Winslet added that her stance on aging is part of a broader belief in using her platform to push back against superficial pressures on women in entertainment. She also criticized magazines for shaping perceptions of how women should look, underscoring her commitment to authenticity in her craft.

The interview, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, arrives as Winslet continues to balance acting with directing a feature film and raising three children. Her reflections offer a candid portrait of the challenges she faced early on and the ways those experiences informed her approach to a long, storied career in film and television.