People are obsessed with Kate Winslet, from head to toe. Oprah's gushed over her explicit (and bare-to-there) scenes in The Reader, her revealing red-carpet looks have invited many a comment on her dancer's legs, and her approachable beauty has made this actress and mom the new face of Lancôme. But as Winslet reveals in a recent interview, she never thought she was the hottest girl on the block and still that sense of every-dayness remains with her even now.
While these stunning photos belie this notion, Kate has plenty of thoughts on beauty and body image that she reveals in the full interview.
On Being the Face of Lancôme:
Her role as a model for Lancôme with her new campaign for L'Absolu Rouge lipstick, launching this month, came as a surprise to her. "I really thought, me?" Lest she seem disingenuous, she insists, "Seriously. Because I think what you feel like as a teenager never really goes away. If you were teased for being fat or thin or having bad teeth, you're always insecure about that particular area of yourself. So I've never thought of myself as any kind of beauty, iconic or otherwise."
On Her Legs:
In recent months, Kate's been bringing her legs out of hiding. After years of long gowns on the red carpet, she's opting for racier numbers. "I danced a lot when I was younger, and I've always had decent, shapely legs and thought it's now or never," she says. "I mean, when you're pushing 40, are you really going to wander around in a dress that's midthigh length? So I thought, Oh, f--- it, I'm just going to do it."
"I'm not one for big, grand gestures." Like rose petals on the bed? "Ha! No, given American Beauty [for which her husband Sam Mendes won the Oscar for Best Director in 2000], I would walk in and be like, what the...? I would laugh my head off."
On Wrinkles, and Why She's an Everywoman:
Women are drawn to Kate because in a way, this Oscar winning actress just seems like one of us. "Part of the reason Lancôme asked me was because I come across as a woman other women can identify with. The media plays such a big role in how women measure themselves against other women, so I can be in a position where I can say beauty comes from within, we're not all perfect, and the covers of magazines are of course retouched. We do not look like that."
She points to her forehead. "I have wrinkles here, which are very evident, and I will particularly say when I look at movie posters, 'You guys have airbrushed my forehead. Please can you change it back?' I'd rather be the woman they're saying 'She's looking older' about than 'She's looking stoned.'"
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