Kate Winslet Says She Had to Be "Really F**king Brave" to Film a Topless Scene in Her "Softest" Body

Kate Winslet is an icon in every way—including in terms of body acceptance.

The superstar actress just gave an interview to Vogue as she stars in upcoming movie Lee, a biopic about photographer Lee Miller, which Winslet also produced.

As part of the movie, the actress had to recreate a scene from a famous photo of Miller and friends picnicking topless, which she did while recovering from a back injury—which meant she hadn't been able to exercise in the run-up to filming the scene.

"You know I had to be really f**king brave about letting my body be its softest version of itself and not hiding from that," she told Vogue.

Touching on another scene where she had to wear a bikini top, Winslet said, "And believe me, people amongst our own team would say, 'You might just want to sit up a bit.' And I’d go, 'Why? [Because of] the bit of flesh you can see? No, that’s the way it’s going to be!'"

Elsewhere in the interview, Winslet said she's done hating her body the way so many of us women are taught to do throughout our lives.

"I know better than to waste precious energy on criticizing my physical self," she said. "I think any woman is better off just saying: I believe in myself. It doesn’t matter what other people think; this is who I am—let’s get on with it."

This attitude has been hard-won for Winslet, whose weight made the object of much unsolicited discussion after she found worldwide success with Titanic.

"It was almost laughable how shocking, how critical, how straight-up cruel tabloid journalists were to me. I was still figuring out who the hell I bloody well was!" she said in 2021.

"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. But it also made me feel so…so moved. By how different it is now."

I'm so grateful for people like Winslet who have contributed to that changing landscape.