How Kate Winslet's Teaching Her Daughter to Love Herself
Bear Grylls has gotten Zac Efron to rappel down a cliff, Kate Hudson to eat ants, and Channing Tatum to backflip out of a helicopter. But on this week’s episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls, the adventurer took his celebrity guest, Kate Winslet, to new highs — and lows — with a deep conversation on body image.
“When I grew up, I never heard positive reinforcement about body image from any female in my life,” she told Grylls, completely bare faced, lying down by a campfire. “I only heard negatives. That’s very damaging, because then you’re programmed as a young woman to immediately scrutinize yourself and how you look.”
But, she adds, she’s teaching her 14-year-old daughter differently. “I stand in front of the mirror and say to Mia, ‘We are so lucky we have a shape. We’re so lucky we’re curvy. We’re so lucky we’ve got good bums,’” the 39-year-old said. “And she’ll say, ‘Mommy, I know, thank God.’”
The 39-year-old actress has always been one of Hollywood’s most outspoken champions of realistic body standards. She was one of the first stars to take issue with excessive retouching on photo shoots; in 2003, her legs were digitally manipulated to an extreme for a GQ cover and she told Britain’s GMTV, “I don’t want people to think I was a hypocrite and had suddenly gone and lost 30 pounds, which is something I would never do, and more importantly, I don’t want to look like that! … They made my legs look quite a bit thinner. They also made me look about 6 feet tall, which I’m not — I’m 5 foot, 6 inches.”
Now Winslet’s one of many voices speaking up and out regarding her industry’s (and society’s) outrageous beauty standards. Kristen Stewart recently opened up to Marie Claire about rejecting the sexy archetype perpetuated on young women, especially prominent ones. In fact, the 25-year-old cites that as a reason for cutting her hair short because she used it as a crutch and still looked “quote unquote ‘sexy’ no matter what” because she could hide behind it. But as soon as she had to let her face hang out, she felt more confident. She added, “Maybe to most people long hair is prettier. But then what? Is your main goal in life to be desired? That is boring as f***.”
Amy Schumer also challenged the existing norms with a sketch on her comedy show Inside Amy Schumer. The comedienne famous for her feminist brand of comedy, skewered the notion that men celebrate natural beauty only when it conforms to a specific standard.
Unfortunately, Winslet’s made more headlines for recreating Titani’s iconic scene in which she, as Rose, and Leonardo DiCaprio, as Jack, stand on the bow together of the ship. “Jack, I feel like I’m flying!” she screams to Grylls, who is strapped to her as they climb down a mountain cliff together. “Kate, do you trust me?” Grylls asked her, acting as Jack.
Grylls livetweeted the show, which aired on Monday, and called Winslet a “friend and such an inspiration — amazing lady!”
More from Yahoo Style:
Why Is #Curvy Banned On Instagram?
Where Are All the Plus-Size Male Models?
Oprah Magazine Says Only People With Flat Stomachs Can Wear Crop Tops