Winslet blasts Hollywood for 'generation of anorexics'

Kate Winslet, pictured at last night's BAFTAs, has hit out at the movie industry for putting preasure on women
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Kate Winslet has launched an attack on stick thin Hollywood celebrities for breeding a "whole new generation of anorexics".

The 31-year-old actress has hit out at the movie industry for adding to the pressure on women to be super-skinny as the debate about size zero models on the catwalk continues to cause controversy.

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She criticised the culture where women are on a diet every day. For many other women she has become a role model because she had been proud to be a "normal shape".

London Fashion Week has just kicked off with organisers coming under fire for refusing to ban extremely skinny models, despite claims it is causing health problems and eating disorders in wider society.

This is despite the fact rival fashion shows in Madrid and New York effectively barred super-skinny models.

Winslet speaking in Good Housekeeping magazine said: "It seems to me that (Hollywood) is breeding a whole new generation of anorexics. I look at people and I want to say 'Look, it's alright you can eat something'."

She added: "I think I have become something of a role model because I came out and said: 'Hey, I've got a normal shape'...It's important for me to stand by the fact that I eat real food and am not on a diet everyday."

Winslett who said she did not care about dieting added: "I just don't worry about my weight anymore. I notice it, if I've enjoyed a Christmas vacation and I have had too many glasses of champagne or too many canapes. But I don't avoid anything and I am not a fanatic."

This follows her comments in December when the 31-year-old actress branded the trend for tiny models and actresses as "unbelievably disturbing".

At that time she told the BBC's Sunday AM that she refuses to have any magazines showing skinny stars in her house for fear of the damaging effect it could have on her six-year-old daughter.

Winslet's comments have been echoed by other celebrities including Billie Piper, who branded the whole size zero obsession as "disgusting" and said she had advised her sister not to look up to Victoria Beckham as a role model.

Earlier this month an expert called on fashion designers and retailers to be prosecuted under health and safety laws if they insist on using size zero models.

According to Professor Janet Treasure the health of these models is being put in jeopardy because they only way they can stay that thin is by starving themselves or taking drugs.

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