Kate Winslet Thinks Women Get 'More Sexy' with Age

When it comes to outdated, sexist notions surrounding aging, women in the public eye continue to shut down the belief that some eternal form of youth is the ideal. Kate Winslet recently shared her thoughts on the matter, in a new interview on the BBC's Woman's Hour podcast. She revealed why she thinks women become "more powerful" and "more sexy" as they age — and it's a take that will no doubt have fans cheering and nodding in agreement.

Winslet has experienced worldwide fame since her starring role in Titanic 25 years ago. At 47, she has been candid about the body shaming she's faced throughout her career, and now she's sharing her empowering thoughts about getting older, especially in an industry that so often favors youth.

"I'm 47, there are bits that don't do what you want them to do anymore," Winslet told host Emma Barnett of her body. "And there's something kind of fab about going, 'Oh well, that's just the way it is, isn't it?'"

Not only does Winslet seem to let the small stuff slide, but she appears to embrace the changes that come with age. "I think women come into their forties — certainly mid-forties — thinking, 'Oh, well, this is the beginning of the decline and things start to change and fade and kind of slide in directions that I don't want them to go in anymore,' explained Winslet. "And I've just decided, no. We become more woman, more powerful, more sexy. We grow into ourselves more. We have the opportunity to speak our mind and not be afraid of what people think of us. Not care what we look like quite so much."

Her advice to others? "Let's go girls, let's just be in our power," she said. "Why not? Life's too flipping short, you know?"

Winslet also addressed the chatter surrounding her appearance — i.e. a lack of makeup and glamorous styling — as a police detective in HBO's hit Mare of Easttown. The conversation around her looks in the role was "absurd," she said, adding, "You'd never make that much fuss or that much noise about a male actor's appearance, would you now?"

The actress clarified that she "absolutely had makeup on" while playing Marianne "Mare" Sheehan in the HBO series, but public commentary about her appearance in the role has inspired her to forgo makeup in her next role. She's set to play a concerned mother in the forthcoming drama series I Am Ruth. "I thought: 'Well, I've only got one option here and that's to go one step further and really actually not wear any makeup and just scrape my hair back into a crappy old ponytail like I do every day of my life anyway.'"

Winslet has felt a "shift" in her overall approach to her looks and the roles she chooses lately, she explained. "I care passionately about highlighting issues that need to be talked about that perhaps people find hard to talk about," she said. "And not shying away from truly looking like a hot mess a lot of the time. I mean, who puts on makeup while they're doing the school run? I don't."

Winslet isn't one to shy away from keeping it real when it comes to sharing what goes into making Hollywood stars look so glam on screen. "It's honestly a myth," she told British Vogue in 2021, speaking directly to anyone who wants to mimic a movie star look. "Women on the red carpet have been in hair and makeup for four hours to look like that and probably had facials every day during the week in the run up to the event. I know because I've been there and had that many facials," she noted.

She did share her true "secret to aging," however. "For me, it's about beauty coming from within and not being so self critical," she said in the previous interview. Big props to Winslet for reminding fans why getting older is a gift, no matter what sexist and ageist commentary might try to insinuate to the contrary.