Kate Winslet is opening up about a recent on-set injury and how it helped strengthen her mindset as she approached filming scenes with nudity in her new film, “Lee.”
Winslet stars in and produces the film, which tells the story of Lee Miller’s journey from fashion model to Vogue war correspondent during World War II. The movie features a recreation of a famous photograph depicting Miller’s group of friends enjoying a topless picnic.
Winslet stars as Miller in the film, and revealed in a new Vogue interview published on Monday that she suffered a serious back injury on the first day of filming – an event that impacted her ability to exercise.
“You know I had to be really f— brave about letting my body be its softest version of itself and not hiding from that,” she told the outlet, adding that she’s featured in a bikini top in another scene.
She continued, “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!’”
Winslet explained that her confidence “probably stems from having been subjected to the most awful scrutiny and judgment.”
“And, actually, I would go so far as to say bullying, from mainstream media when I was in my 20s,” she said, not long after Winslet appeared in “Titanic.”
In fact, she told the publication, her break from exercise due to her injury was “was weirdly good for me, to go f— it: I’ve got to go easy on myself.”
“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.”
“Lee” stars Winslet, Alexander Skarsgård, Marion Cotillard, Andrew Riseborough and Andy Samberg, and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday.