Kate Winslet ran into her childhood bully years later and delivered the perfect comeback
'I feel very strongly that it's important to also say to young girls that we don't look like that all the time.'
It's unfortunate, but body shaming starts as early as school. Kids see adults mocking people who don't match the apparent beauty standards of society and carry it on to their classrooms, doing the same. The "Titanic" star, Kate Winslet, also experienced fat-shaming in school. However, unlike most, she bumped into her bully years later, and her last words healed her inner child. Winslet spoke about the incident on Conan O'Brien's show in 2004.
The "Goodbye June" actress was a little chubby while in school, and so she was an easy target to pick on. Winslet mentioned a particular classmate who was specifically rude to her because of her looks. "As a child, I did actually have quite a hard time with one particular girl, like a particularly nasty person," she confessed. Winslet didn't take her bully's name but mentioned how she would deliberately push the actress's desk to one corner of the classroom, away from others. "That's really mean," Conan exclaimed, and Winslet added, "And I'd never done anything wrong."
Every day was a battle for the actress, and she always confided in her mom about the bully. Years later, when Winslet had already achieved massive fame and was also nominated for an Academy Award, she bumped into the same bully at a department store. Interestingly, the actress's mom noticed her working behind the makeup counter first. "There she is, all done up, you know? Glossy lips, everything, and the hair all piled up like a pineapple," Winslet joked.
In that moment, she decided to confront the rude girl who had left no chance to pick on her in school. "I walked up to her, I said, 'Hey.' And she went on, 'How are you? Are you alright? Yeah, it's nice to see you've been doing well for yourself, haven't you?'" the actress recalled. Next, Winslet swiftly pointed out how she had been doing well in acting while the bully was working in a department store.
The "Ammonite" star then told the bully that she was glad they met because she had been wanting to thank her for something. "She went, 'Oh, really? What's that?' And I said, 'I just want to thank you for being such a bitch, because you actually made me stronger,'" Winslet said. She confronted her bully and walked away — an incident she described as one of the "greatest" moments of her life. Conan, who thoroughly enjoyed the story, said, "That's something people dream about."
Experiencing bullying at a young age shatters confidence completely. Researchers Ryu Takizawa, Barbara Maughan, and Louise Arseneault found that kids who are frequently bullied are at a higher risk of poor social, health, and economic outcomes. In fact, more often than not, the effect is so harsh that some children may also develop suicidal thoughts because of bullying. Moreover, they realized that people who had been bullied as kids may not immediately show the impact, but they are 65% more likely to develop anxiety disorders later in life.
The Oscar-winning actress, who is considered a top Hollywood beauty, is also always very conscious about not promoting wrong beauty standards. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, she said, "You know, we walk down red carpets. You know, it's part of the job. But I think I feel very strongly that it's important to also say to young girls that we don't look like that all the time."
More on Scoop Upworthy
Tormented man confronts his high school bully after years but wasn't prepared for his response
Viola Davis gets real about evolving beauty standards and how they are 'beyond male desirability'
Share on Facebook
