My Heroine: Kate Winslet

From CNN: Winslet wins diet story damages

British actress Kate Winslet, an outspoken critic of what she sees as Hollywood's obsession with being skinny, has won a public apology and undisclosed libel damages from a magazine that reported she visited a diet doctor.

Winslet's lawyer, Rachel Atkins, told the High Court in London on Friday that the article in Grazia magazine was wrong.

The weekly glossy, published by Britain's Emap, had reported that Winslet discussed treatments at the Chinese Healing Institute in California.

Atkins said Winslet did receive treatment from a doctor there, but it was for a neck injury and not for weight.

Winslet immediately complained to the magazine, saying that the article suggested "she had lied to the public when she had said that she refused to bow to pressure to be skinny and celebrated her curves."

"Grazia magazine have apologized to me in full, and admitted that their story was incorrect, which gives me tremendous peace of mind," the Oscar-nominated star said in a statement released by her solicitors.

"I feel very strongly that 'curves' are natural, womanly and real. I shall continue to hope that women are able to believe in themselves for who they are inside, and not feel under such incredible pressure to be unnaturally thin."

Winslet will donate the settlement to an eating disorder charity, and the publishers will also pay her legal costs.

All I can say is Hear, Hear! I've always liked Winslet because she is fearless when it comes to her appearance. If she has to put on weight in order to inhabit her character, like the one she played in the film Enigma, she does it. She can be drop dead gorgeous or she can be downright frumpy, but she is always real.

And she is exactly right about what Hollywood does to actresses. From a purely aesthetic point of view it is disastrous.

Here is a classic example. Pick the better "look" for Christina Ricci:



The Christina with curves look?



or, the Hollywood "New and Improved" curveless look?

For me it is the all time no-brainer of no-brainers.

Hey, Hollywood.....real women have curves, and real men like them.