L’Oréal Paris is proud to reveal its global ambassador: an inspiring activist for positive change Kate Winslet. The brand believes that this powerful woman will be a perfect representation of the company’s values and mission to make all women know their worth.
Roles That Empower Females
Throughout her career, Kate has been inspiring women through her roles of strong female characters. She has always chosen parts that would depict the hard fates of women and uncover their complex nature and inner world. In her new film Ammonite, Kate plays a real-life outstanding palaeontologist Mary Anning whose crucial discovery was reappropriated by her male peers.
Overcoming Hardships on Her Path to Self-Worth
Just like most of her characters, Kate Winslet is a strong and purposeful woman. At the annual WE Day UK event in London, the Oscar-winning actress had a public speech about self-esteem in which Winslet revealed hardships she faced in the past: “I had been bullied at school. They called me Blubber. Teased me for wanting to act. Locked me in the cupboard. Laughed at me.”
And not only Kate’s peers were ruining her confidence. When Winslet was only 14 years old, she was told by a drama teacher that the girl might be lucky with acting if she was “happy to settle for the fat girl parts.” With all that bullying, the future celebrity felt like “she wasn’t enough” because she “didn’t fit into someone else’s idea of ‘perfect.”
However, Kate refused to give up her dream of acting and “had to choose to rise above it all”. “And then one day, I was cast as Rose in Titanic. The most unlikely candidate, Kate from the sandwich shop in Reading. Suddenly acting in one of the biggest movies ever made,” she said.
The actress encourages everyone to believe in themselves: “You can be from anywhere, and you can do anything. Believe it.”
The One Who Cares
Kate Elizabeth Winslet uses her fame to give voice to the voiceless by partnering with numerous organizations that support women’s rights, supply people in need, help individuals with disabilities and protect the environment.
With soaring domestic violence during the lockdown, Kate joined UN Women to support its Shadow Pandemic campaign. This program strives to prevent domestic abuse by encouraging people to check in on women who can be potential victims of their partners. The campaign is also supported by other female celebrities like Nicole Kidman.
In 2012, Winslet founded the Golden Hat Foundation with a mission to change the way people on the autism spectrum are perceived. The organization raises awareness of struggles that individuals with autism experience daily and shines a light on their great potential. Kate’s concern with autism awareness arisen after narrating A Mother’s Courage, a work centered upon a woman trying to help her autistic son to communicate.
Moreover, the actress has worked with the Small Steps Project, a UK charity that brings essential things, such as shoes and hygiene kits, to children living in dumps worldwide. The organization helps children to step out of the dump environment and pursue education.
Kate Winslet is also passionate about the environment. She actively supports The Word Forest Organization, which works to plant trees, build schools, facilitate education, and empower women in Kenya.
Finally, Kate has brought up the topic of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the discussion of her queer character in Ammonite. The actress hopes that her role makes a “helpful contribution” in making LGBTQ+ stories more mainstream. “There needs to be more LGBTQ+ films so that we don’t feel the compulsion to compare the few that do exist, it’s totally mad,” Winslet says. “You wouldn’t compare Titanic with Die Hard or Revolutionary Road and The Holiday… They all have heterosexual people in them. These kinds of comparisons automatically have the impact of making same-sex stories ‘controversial’. Why are we even using those words? That really isn’t right.”