Kate Winslet has described being shamed over her appearance as a young actor by schoolmates and teachers.
The actor, whose directorial debut film Goodbye June was released this month, recalled being told by a drama teacher that she would have to settle for “fat girl parts”.
Winslet said she was set on acting from a young age, inspired by black-and-white photographs of her grandparents performing on stage, but she often played supporting roles.
“And I didn’t care about that, I didn’t aspire to play leading roles, really ever,” she said.
“But also because I was a little bit stocky, when I did start taking it much more seriously and got a child agent I really remember vividly a drama teacher … and she said to me, ‘Well, darling, you’ll have a career if you’re ready to settle for the fat girl parts.’
“Look at me now,” she added. “It’s appalling the things people say to children.”
Winslet told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs she was teased at school for her size, called “blubber” and locked in the art cupboard.
“I learned to have a pretty thick skin pretty early on,” said Winslet, who left school at 16, around the time she got her first film role in Peter Jackson’s 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
She said the experience led to her later developing issues about her body, including on-and-off diets from the age of 15 to 19. At 19, she said she was barely eating, and described the period as unhealthy and one she regretted.
At the time of the bullying, she said she threw herself into her acting and creative world beyond school. “I wouldn’t let them spoil a trajectory that I was determined I was on,” she said.
“And at least I had a lovely family to go home to.”
