Ever since their 1997 blockbuster hit Titanic , Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have been thick as thieves.
Kate has opened up about their close friendship in the past and has even credited Leo for helping her overcome body image struggles due to being bullied, and learn to love her body the way it is.
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If you didn’t already know, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are very good friends.
The platonic pair have maintained a close friendship ever since the release of the renowned 1997 film that they both starred in, Titanic .
The pair are so close, in fact, that Kate has credited Leo for helping her overcome body image issues.
In the past, the 46-year-old actress has opened up about being bullied for her size and feeling insecure because of it.
“I had been bullied at school. They called me Blubber,” she told People in 2017.
“[They] teased me for wanting to act. Locked me in the cupboard. Laughed at me,” she said.
“I was even told that I might be lucky with my acting, if I was happy to settle for the fat girl parts,” she added .
“I felt that I wasn’t enough, I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t look right,” Kate continued.
“And all because I didn’t fit into someone else’s idea of ‘perfect.’ I didn’t have the perfect body .”
She has also opened up about the media’s commentary on her body affecting her self-esteem.
In a previous interview with Oprah Winfrey, Kate recalled Leo making a comment about her body while filming “Titanic” that really stuck with her.
“’It’s really important that you are the shape that you are,’” Kate recalled him saying , “‘Because there are so many skinny girls out there who think that to be successful and to be beautiful and therefore be loved and respected it means you have to be thin.'”
“And this really kind of struck a chord with me,” she explained. “I thought, ‘He’s really right actually.'”
“This image is being translated to teenage girls, you know?” she added .
“When award season came around, for Titanic I thought, ‘You know what? I’m young, I’m 21-years-old, and I’m in this movie and it’s very successful and I’ve been nominated for an Academy Award for this,” she went on.
She explained that she had managed to achieve a significant level of success in her acting career regardless of her figure.
“And I haven’t done any of this through being skinny or through starving myself or anything like that.”
She explained that she felt proud of herself for proving that she didn’t need to be skinny to achieve major accolades.
“And so I thought, ‘I’m just gonna hold my head high and I’m just gonna be the person that I am,” she said.
Kate also pointed out the effect this has had on her as a mother.
“As a mother myself, you know, with my daughter — ’cause it is girls, frankly, who suffer the most with this kind of internal battle — it’s even more important to me than ever,” she said.
On an episode of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls” in 2015, Kate opened up about how she taught her daughter to be body-positive.
“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,” she said at the time.
Most recently, Kate received wide critical acclaim for her leading role in the series “Mare Of Easttown”.
The crime drama had Kate playing Mare, an unglamorous detective battling personal tragedy while trying to solve a brutal murder.
The series and Kate’s performance earned praise from fans and critics alike.
Kate ended up winning the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a limited series. Besides the show’s compelling narrative and characters, many commended Kate’s physical portrayal of Mare as well.
In one intimate scene, Kate insisted that her “bulgy bit of belly” be left in the take and not edited out.
Reportedly, when the director told her they would remove it Kate replied, “Don’t you dare!”
Kate was also outspoken about the show’s promotional materials.
Reports say Kate sent back the show’s poster twice after noticing that her face had been airbrushed. She believed audiences would relate to her character more if she looked “real”.
