With six Academy Award nominations, Kate Winslet is one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation. But she's also one of the most laid-back. She's the one you can totally imagine having a pint with down the pub. She'd probably laugh if she trod in dog poo. She definitely orders Dominos. In the fame-obsessed, Instagram-filtered world we live, she brings a down-to-earth, IDGAF attitude to everything she does. In short, she's totally chill. Here we present some of her most realest moments. Kate, we salute you.
She doesn’t like being retouched
Plenty of stars today welcome, even insist on, retouching. Not so for Kate, who was less than pleased when GQ slimmed her down with Photoshop for her 2003 cover appearance. “The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and more importantly I don't desire to look like that. I actually have a Polaroid that the photographer gave me on the day of the shoot… I can tell you they've reduced the size of my legs by about a third.”
She smokes roll-ups
At a BAFTA party in 2002 it was reported that Kate was rolling a cigarette when someone offered her a “proper cigarette.” “These are proper cigarettes, thank you very much,” she replied. No airs and graces for our fave (and possibly only) star from Reading.
Photo: Getty
She has confessed to having adult incontinence
On the talk show circuit, today’s actresses usually gush about their co-stars and reveal how they got in shape for the role. When Kate appeared on The Graham Norton Show last month her chosen topic was adult incontinence. “I can’t jump on trampolines anymore, I wet myself,” she confessed. “It’s bloody awful, especially if you’re wearing a skirt. When you’ve had a few children you know, it’s just what happens. It’s amazing, two sneezes I’m fine, three, it’s game over.” Try finding another Hollywood star who would admit to that.
Photo: BBC
She can send herself up
When she appeared as herself in a 2005 episode of Extras she was happy to be depicted as a filthy-mouthed horn dog. Some of the brilliant lines, delivered so casually, resulted in her being awarded an Emmy. Here she is offering some advice to Maggie on how to dirty talk: “Why don't you just start with something light, you know, like um – ‘I'd love it if you stuck your Willy Wonka between my Oompa-Loompas,’ you know, something a bit fun, a bit jokey. And then you can get more hardcore, run with the old classics, like ‘I'm playing with my dirty pillows'.” It’s not exactly something you could see Reese Witherspoon agreeing to do, is it?
She’s a real-life hero
Well, kind of. In 2011 Kate was staying on Richard Branson’s Necker Island when lightning struck the main house, causing a huge fire. Afterwards, it was revealed that Kate picked up Branson’s then 87-year-old mother Eve and carried her to safety. Eve later played down reports saying the Oscar-winning actress had merely helped her down a few steps. There aren’t many Hollywood stories where a woman gets to play the hero so let’s just go with it.
Photo: Getty
She served bangers and mash at her first wedding
When Kate married her first husband, assistant director Jim Threapleton in 1998, she kept it real by having a bangers and mash reception at her local pub in Reading. Yes, Kate! Give us that over herb chicken any day.
Photo: Rex
She keeps her Oscar in the toilet
After five Academy Award nominations, Kate finally won in 2009 for The Reader. And where does Kate choose to display her gold statuette? The loo, of course. And her reason for doing so is even better. “The whole point is for everybody to pick it up and go, ‘I’d like to thank my son and my dad’—and you can always tell when someone has, because they’re in there a little bit longer after they flushed,” she says. “They’ll come out looking slightly pink-cheeked. It’s hysterical.”
Photo: Rex
She has a son called Bear Blaze
After calling her first children Mia and Joe, she went a bit wacky for her third, naming him Bear Blaze. The Bear part was chosen by her children and Blaze refers to the fire at Necker Island, which was when she met Bear’s father, Ned Rocknroll. Bonus points for marrying someone whose surname is Rocknroll and laughing it off.
She got her hands (and nipples) dirty with Bear Grylls
Kate proved herself to be a good sport when she appeared on Running Wild With Bear Grylls this year by scoffing earthworms for lunch, making a fire with one of her tampons, and getting fish guts on her nipple. She also found time to recreate the “Jack, I’m flying!” scene from Titanic while abseiling down a mountain. What a woman.
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