I will tell you that when I was heavy, people would say to me - and it was such a backhanded compliment - they would say, 'You've got such a beautiful face,' in the way of, like, 'Oh, isn't it a shame that from the neck down you're questionable.'
Interpretation
The quote highlights the backhanded nature of compliments that shamefully emphasize a person's appearance.
In this quote, Kate Winslet reflects on her experiences with body image and societal standards of beauty. She points out how backhanded compliments can reveal underlying judgments about one's body, suggesting that the speaker acknowledges beauty but simultaneously critiques the person, imposing an unrealistic standard that ties worth to appearance.
In practice
In a speech about body positivity, you might quote Kate Winslet to illustrate the impact of backhanded compliments.
As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, "I love my body". Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, "I am so proud of my body." So I make sure to say it to Mia , because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.
What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn't planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, 'Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?' And also, 'Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?'
Real luxury is having the time to read endless stories in bed with my children. And I get that all the time. I'm so blessed.
If you're not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career
I think there's a lot of pressure on young people to really be the thing that everyone is telling them that they are, opposed to discovering it for themselves.
I've decided I am going to start loving my backside because I don't know anyone who does that. And for my daughter, I want to be able to say to her, 'I love this.'
The fact is that love is of two kinds, one which commands, and one which obeys. The two are quite distinct, and the passion to which the one gives rise is not the passion of the other.
I was glad I wasn't in love, that I wasn't happy with the world. I like being at odds with everything. People in love often become edgy, dangerous. They lose their sense of perspective. They lose their sense of humor. They become nervous, psychotic bores. They even become killers.
A heat full of coldness, a sweet full of bitterness, a pain full of pleasantness, which maketh thoughts have eyes and hearts ears, bred by desire, nursed by delight, weaned by jealousy, kill'd by dissembling, buried by ingratitude, and this is love.
There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips.
A middle finger is more New York than a corporate ambush. I bleed for my hometown, and I'd die for my fans.
Money cannot buy the fuel of love but is excellent kindling.
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