Kate Winslet is currently promoting The Regime and Lee, a film which should come out later this year. The Regime is the HBO dark-comedy/satire of an oppressive European dictator, where Kate plays the dictator. It looks like yet another brilliant turn for Kate on the small screen, following her massively successful HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce and Mare of Easttown. For her promotion, Kate recently spoke to the New York Times Magazine about life, love and Ozempic. She’s not on Ozempic, and before she was asked about it in this interview, she had no idea what it was. Some highlights:
She had an eating disorder in the 1990s. “I never told anyone about it. Because guess what — people in the world around you go: ‘Hey, you look great! You lost weight!’” For that last bit, Winslet slipped into a pitch-perfect American accent — Los Angeles, maybe a film executive. “So even the compliment about looking good is connected to weight. And that is one thing I will not let people talk about. If they do, I pull them up straight away.”
On what she thinks of Ozempic: “I actually don’t know what Ozempic is. All I know is that it’s some pill that people are taking or something like that.” I told her that Ozempic — which apparently has not yet saturated English culture as it has in the United States — was a very in-demand diabetes drug now commonly taken off-label for weight loss. “But what is it?” Winslet said, her mouth full of pastry. I went on: It was a shot people took that dampened their interest in food. Winslet looked appalled… “Oh, my God. This sounds terrible. Let’s eat some more things!” She made a show of eating more of her pastry, crumbs tumbling onto the blankets.
On intimacy coordinators: “I would have benefited from an intimacy coordinator every single time I had to do a love scene or be partially naked or even a kissing scene. It would have been nice to have had someone in my corner, because I always had to stand up for myself.” And often, she didn’t — she felt that whatever was being asked of her was simply part of the job. She has a litany of unspoken objections she wished she had felt empowered to make: “I don’t like that camera angle. I don’t want to stand here full-frontal nude. I don’t want this many people in the room. I want my dressing gown to be closer. Just little things like that. When you’re young, you’re so afraid of pissing people off or coming across as rude or pathetic because you might need those things. So learning to have a voice for oneself in those environments was very, very hard.”
She never wanted to be known as a complainer: “I was already experiencing huge amounts of judgment, persecution, all this bullying. People can call me fat. They can call me what they want. But they certainly cannot say that I complained and I behaved badly. Over my dead body. I would not have known how to do that without people in power turning around and saying, ‘Oh, Jesus Christ, you know, her again, that complainer.’ I would rather suffer in silence than ever let that happen to me, even still today.”
Accessing her emotions on screen: “In the beginning, I would rummage around my emotional toolbox and pull out something that had actually happened to me. But that stopped working for me at a certain point. I don’t know why. As you get older, you live more life; you have more real experiences that you add to the emotional toolbox without realizing that you’re doing it. And so sometimes, as you get older, quite honestly, emotions are easier to access because they just simmer below the surface all the time — because there’s just so damn many of them.”
I’m not judging Kate’s reaction to the Ozempic stuff because I doubt she understands that Ozempic is supposed to be used for obesity and diabetes, not garden variety weight loss. Plus, it’s kind of clear that Kate still has a somewhat skewed relationship with how she talks about her body, food and weight. I don’t blame her for that either – the way she was treated when she was younger was traumatizing for her, and the things people said about her weight were cruel and toxic. All of it left a mark and, besides that, she’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t. Also, to all of the younger women out there: don’t be afraid to complain, to take up space, to point out when things are not right. There’s also a huge difference between “standing up for yourself and your needs” and “complaining.” “Suffering in silence” is not something to aspire to.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
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- Kate Winslet bei der Premiere der HBO Max Serie The Regime im American Museum of Natural History. New York, 26.02.2024 *** Kate Winslet at the premiere of the HBO Max series The Regime at the American Museum of Natural History New York, 26 02 2024 Foto:xB.xHinex/xFuturexImagex regime_4278,Image: 851331649, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Barbara Hine / Avalon
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- Kate Winslet bei der Premiere der HBO Max Serie The Regime im American Museum of Natural History. New York, 26.02.2024 *** Kate Winslet at the premiere of the HBO Max series The Regime at the American Museum of Natural History New York, 26 02 2024 Foto:xB.xHinex/xFuturexImagex regime_4271,Image: 851331706, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Barbara Hine / Avalon
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- Premiere of HBO Original ‘The Regime’ at the American Museum of Natural History. Featuring: Kate Winslet Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 26 Feb 2024 Credit: Marion Curtis/StarPix for HBO Max/INSTARimages
Oh, man — that comment about “never behaving badly” really hits hard. THIS is how power dynamics manifest these days. Women may BE in positions of power, but expectations are so different, and the second you rub someone the wrong way — even if it’s perfectly justified — that power can be stripped.
I’ve seen men slam on tables and shout and get promoted, but women are disciplined if they mildly express disagreement.
The last comment about emotions hit hard. I feel as I get older I am more empathetic and cry at the drop of a hat now. Not what I was expecting.
I agree it’s something I’ve noticed too about myself.
Oh wow. Me too.
I used to be really hard and unemotional in my twenties and somehow as I inch closer to 40 I cry about everything. Now I feel better .
She is such a liar. She lied about her c-section, about “saving” that elderly woman in a fire, about getting work done on her face, etc. If she says she doesn’t know what ozempic is, odds are she is using it. It’s like the royal family, the truth is probably the opposite of what she’s saying.
Agree with all this. She’s a liar and has had weight issues because in Hollywood she was considered fat. It wouldn’t surprise me if she were on Ozempic, either.
I actually do believe the celebrities from countries where prescription drug ads on TV aren’t a thing when they say they haven’t heard of Ozempic.
This is true. Drug marketing is out of control in the US, about half of the ads on “my” channels are for drugs.
It was always something that shocked me when I travelled to the UK (from the UK), just weird! Here I take what the doctor prescribes.
Oh does she think it’s the worst thing ever, hmm. I know several people who had tipped into obesity and are finding food normalcy along with more energy and weight loss (and probably blood sugar regulation, but they haven’t talked about that and not all of them are diagnosed diabetic) on Ozempic. I hope to use it myself. I do not think that people who have never been obese can understand what it’s like to be obese*, but you would *think* that those who have had eating disorders would understand the amount of noise one’s body can make in regards to food.
*to a person, they all say something like, “is this how thin people experience hunger? A sensation that grows slowly, can be answered with a small amount of food and stops? Is this why they think obese people are lazy voracious monsters?”
Love her in Regime, it’s such a weird and wonderful spoof on many dictatorships and her acting chops really shine through.
My fear with Ozempic is that we are only now starting to see some of the long-term side effects. I read a lawsuit from one woman who was on it for 2 years, lost a bunch of weight, but now her gastrointestinal muscles are so weak they barely function. This is causing extensive pain and potentially life-long digestion issues. To keep the weight off, many people have to use it for years – how could that not mess with your gut? We will likely see more of this coming to light as time goes on.
Is it worth it? I know it’s helped many people with diabetes and that’s great, but what about the long term impact?
The drug that became Ozempic started clinical trials in 2008 and has been in use since 2012, all for diabetics. If there were complications of being on it longer term, we would probably know at this point.
But we already do know some of the long term side effects on your gut…
While it may have been on the market for a while, it’s only gained popularity and regular use in the past 1-2 years. As more people use it long-term, we will learn about more potentially life-altering side effects. I hope that’s not the case but there is still so much we don’t know about this drug…
Not necessarily. Drugs may act one way in people with diabetes and/or obesity but a totally different way in people who are otherwise healthy.
Kirsten – good point. With so many people taking it who don’t really need it, and just want to shed a few pounds, I’m curious how they will be affected long-term vs those who are obese/diabetic and need this drug.
Husband is in medical sales and he was at a conference recently with anesthesiologists and a number of them were discussing how their patients on ozempic are struggling post-operatively – tissues not rebuilding as quickly etc. there was some anecdotal discussion about malnutrition effects for people on ozempic.
The drug was initially approved for people with life threatening complications from obesity and T2D and as a layperson I would assume even serious drug side effects could be tolerated as a risk-reward calculation. But perhaps not for all the off-label uses.
That said, it did get approved again for these uses. Although everything seems entirely corrupt in our world these days were those approval decisions made free of any financial incentives?
Stef, thanks for your concern, but I trust my very skilled physicians … you don’t have to worry on our behalf.
@quitecontrary just like all the people who trusted the doctors that prescribed them OxyContin?
There also might be interactions — with demographic variables, with particular health issues, or with lifestyle factors that simply aren’t yet known. In my case, particularly when it comes to newer interventions and interventions with relatively narrow use profiles, I always ask questions about this — especially since people “like me” are often not in the original research samples or the groups of early uses. This can be even more the case when it comes to expensive medications and other newer, pricier, rarer treatments and interventions. While it’s great to know that, for example, middle aged white men tolerate a particular treatment just fine, it’s often not entirely clear how applicable such data will be to someone like me. It might be 100% or .05% or anywhere in between. Sometimes the data is simply not available (yet).
We’re, at least in the UK, clearly told We’re on Ozempic for years, basically for life.
Problem now is that pharmacies can get a supply every other month because it had been approved to be sold last year for anyone with a weight problem.
Ozempic helps with satiety. I don’t naturally know I’ve eaten enough, Ozempic sends that message to the brain.
I didn’t have side effects but my blood sugar levels went down by 1 third the first year. I also lost without any effort over 100 pounds in 2 years, but I was obese.
Now I can’t get it regularly bec some people use it bec they have 10 pounds to lose.
BTW Ozempic may not be advertised on TV here in the UK but all the media reported about it being approved for weight loss (at a cost of 0 to £9.65 per month in England) and the Gutter Press and fashion magazines have articles regularly, meaning SHe kNEW!
If she’s never struggled with obesity, she should probably not weigh in on a drug that is also approved for it.
She’s not being asked to talk about people with obesity though — she’s being asked about the obsession with weight loss in Hollywood, which she does have considerable experience with.
@kirsten agree, she was asked a question during an interview and she responded from her personal perspective. I don’t know what we are expecting from celebrity interviews these days but the way we have been pulling them apart on CB this year it’s like any celebrity has to go into an interview with a set of talking points and not deviate from them.
And then at the same time we are looking for authenticity and realness in these interviews.
Why all the outrage for someone answering from their perspective, not trying to be a spokesperson for anything, just sharing their own truth when asked a question for a profile?
Maybe she was asked that question because she previously made fun of Leonardo DiCaprio gaining weight while she herself lost weight? She really seems like a nasty person.
Idk anyone obese who is on it. I do have two different acquaintances who are what I would say normal sized, middle-aged, 140 pound range, who both got prescriptions for it and lost a ton of weight to the point that they now sickly skinny and gaunt in the face. They don’t perceive that, though, they are just excited that they are back at their high school weights and talking about how it’s a miracle drug. To me it is scary.
I agree with you, Chaine. Scary stuff and some of the potential long-term side effects are terrifying.
And the bad side effects don’t have to even be long term. My family member had life altering gastroparesis within two months – AND she was on it for the intended purpose (diabetes) and is already thin !
This is what terrifies me too: perfectly healthy people who take a medicine just out of vanity.
But why do you care? Why are you terrified of a stranger having side effects for a medication that they need, of which needs you are clearly unaware? Just because someone isn’t currently obese doesn’t mean they were not previously obese, or are not genetically inclined to become obese. It all just screams insecurity and fatphobia to me.
I am on a similar drug and it has freed me from a lifetime of being obsessed with eating. I’ve been through everything — obesity, anorexia, obesity again.
I cannot understand why people are “terrified” by people taking a tested medication recommended by highly educated physicians, who say that semaglutide can not only help with weight loss but has protective effects for the heart.
Chaine, now you sort of know one obese person who is taking it, and is completely grateful for it, and hasn’t experienced any of the unpleasant side effects it can have. Those of us with chronic health issues don’t have the luxury of disdaining drugs that can change our lives for the better.
I don’t doubt your experience and I’m happy if the drug helped you but the idea that you should have blind trust in your healthcare provider is just not it. It was recently reported that Novo Nordisk (maker of Ozempic) paid U.S. medical professionals at least $25.8 million over a decade in fees/expenses related to its weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Saxenda. A lot of the obesity specialists who work at teaching hospitals or who hold top positions at medical societies get paid big bucks to push these drugs and I have no doubt that eventually we’ll find out Ozempic was peddled in much the same manner.
Personally, I think trust in doctors should always be weighed against the knowledge that our healthcare system is largely influenced by the pharmaceutical companies and not every doctor is immune to that.
@QuiteContrary, I’m glad it is helping you with overcoming true health concerns…. Every medication has risks and benefits and the benefits are going to better outweigh the risks if taken for its intended purpose by its intended patient demographic. The people I mentioned above do not have those concerns and are simply trying to get into skinnier jeans…. Not sure this medication was tested or intended for that or that the risks are worth it. I would love to shift off ten or fifteen pounds but reading everything about muscle wasting and reduction in bone density these meds can cause, I cannot understand why fit healthy people would take them.
@Kitten … LOL at the notion of me having blind trust in my physicians. They have EARNED my trust. I have built a relationship with my doctors. I ask a lot of questions and I’m not afraid of getting second opinions.
The doctor who provides the bulk of my care doesn’t even allow pharmaceutical promotional swag in her offices.
Give people credit for knowing how to handle their own health care decisions.
Those of us that are diabetic and obese are simply waiting for prescriptions to get filled because our insurance covers it. I’m not going to a compounding pharmacy charging more than $1K for the prescription. I’m just gonna have to wait until there is more.
Oh ok, so never mind that obesity is officially classified as a disease, so those who are obese must also be diabetic to use the medicine. Check your fatphobia, Nicole.
Actually, neither Kate nor the interviewer seem to understand what Ozempic is. It’s a drug that helps the pancreas make more insulin. That aids in blood sugar control, and the decrease in blood sugar spikes eases appetite. It’s not an appetite suppressant, like amphetamines. And for type 2 diabetics, and especially people with pre-diabetes, who have a shot at reversing their trajectory toward the disease, it has been a game changer.
I wouldn’t want it either, given the side effects. And it says something about what the medical profession think about the worth of plus-sized patients that they would consider those side-effects to be acceptable. I would rather be fat, myself.
I know someone in the industry who knows her well. She is not a nice person, and that’s all I’ll say.