KATE WINSLET TURNS 40 THIS YEAR

Before we know it, Kate Winslet is turning forty. In this piece, we look at some of her early roles, and also her lesser-known avatars of being a mother and a role model for how women ought to look at themselves.
For a generation of people who hit their puberties around the time when Titanic released in 1997, Kate Winslet is the most beautiful, charming lady in the world. Not only does she has that wonderful British accent, but her acting is determined, her movements exude grace, and she had that fresh, innocent look of just having stumbled out of a floating lotus.
She was most recently seen in Insurgent, and though she will not turn forty until October of this year, she says she is looking forward to the new milestone in her life. Mother to three children, one each from each of her three marriages, she is said to be experiencing a surge of creative energy in addition to the enjoyment that comes from spending enough time with family and taking part in all her kids’ daily activities.
When asked what she would like to leave as a message to her children on the occasion of turning forty, the Titanic star said that it was important have children realize the value of struggle at some level. So even experiences such as her two previous divorces are not something to be hidden from her children, because if she could use her life as a model for her kids, then they would have to know the bad bits along with the good.
‘The bad things make you who you are,’ she said, ‘and they shape you. So if you’re comfortable with who you are today, then you should be comfortable being able to talk about the things that helped shape you as a person.’
Kate was also quiet dismissive about needing to lose pregnancy weight in a hurry. She said, ‘Have I actively been on a diet to lose my baby weight? No, I haven’t. I genuinely bloody haven’t. I so didn’t want to be one of those ‘Oh, wow, she’s back in shape after 12 weeks’ women. Life is just too short to be spending time focusing on things like that.’
Kate has been known to take Hollywood to task for ‘telling her how heavy she should be’. She has often said that her self-esteem does not rally around how heavy she is, and that she should be allowed to weigh as much or as little as she likes.
We like her. Here’s wishing her a very happy fortieth birth year!