Kate Winslet: ‘I know the true meaning of getting by the skin of my teeth, I do’

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This ^^ is a preview of the November Vogue. Kate Winslet is the cover girl, probably because she’s promoting… Labor Day? Maybe? I just checked though and while Labor Day is making the film festival rounds through the fall, it doesn’t even get a limited release date until Christmas. Still, that’s the only thing she’s got coming out in the next six months. I guess Anna Wintour wanted Kate because of the changes in her personal life too – Kate got married and got pregnant over the past year, and she’s probably due in the next few months.

Until Vogue releases their editorial and interview, we’ll just have to make do with this interview which was making the rounds last week (sorry I’m just getting to it now). Kate has been facing some criticism for her life choices, especially with the notoriously snarky British press. A columnist for The Telegraph apparently shaded Kate pretty hard for having “three babies by three fathers.” Which is true, Kate is in the midst of gestating her third child with her third husband. So I guess Kate was responding to those criticisms in this interview:

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet feels single mothers have a tough time raising children as society judges them.

“Single mums do come in for a hard time. Society is incredibly judgmental. I know this,” Winslet told TimeOut magazine.

“My life has taken me down several different paths I never expected it to take me down. Not in a million years. And I know the true meaning of getting by the skin of my teeth, I do. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got money or you haven’t, whether you’re famous or not. This is the case for all women actually, you have to carry on. You always have to carry on. And you can, because you have to.”

The 37-year-old British actress, who is already mother to daughter Mia from her first marriage to Jim Threapleton and son Joe from her second marriage to Sam Mendes, is expecting her third child, the first with husband Ned Rocknroll.

“I’m a bit older, and certainly my body doesn’t feel like I have been pregnant in ten years. I’ve been more active and healthier, I think. I know more about how to take care of myself now” she said.

“I think that between 27 and 37 was a really big learning decade. I just know more, I think, now than I did then. I’ve been very lucky – a bit tired and a bit sick at the beginning but nothing major at all.”

[From TimeOut via IB Times]

Eh. I mean, “society” does judge single mothers, still, to this day. If you don’t believe me, listen to half of all the politicians in America. Even Mitt Romney did some single-mother bashing during one of the presidential debates. So, she has a point about “judgmental” society. But! I think Kate makes the wrong turn when she makes it all about herself and her struggles. “I know the true meaning of getting by the skin of my teeth, I do.” Really though? I mean, do you really want to look at a single mother making minimum wage with no access to affordable day-care or pre-K for her kids and tell her “yes, I have been through that, we are the same”? Her message isn’t actively bad or offensive, she just seems… out of touch. I suppose the message is that all ladies are the same and we all have our struggles and we all have to carry on, but objectively, some ladies have more burdens than others.

Here are some new pics of Kate at the BFI London Film Festival photocall for Labor Day. Her face definitely looks “softer” these days. Less Botox-y.

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Photos courtesy of Fashion Scans Remastered, WENN.

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44 Responses to “Kate Winslet: ‘I know the true meaning of getting by the skin of my teeth, I do’”

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  1. Aussie girl says:

    That is one photo shopped magazine cover

  2. Dani2 says:

    Well Kate, much as I agree that yes, single mothers are almost always harshly judged, I just don’t think she knows the struggle of the everyday single mom. Money and success aren’t everything but they can make life a whole lot easier in a lot of ways so I’m not on board with the whole “getting by the skin of my teeth” thing when it comes to rich and successful single mums like her.

  3. blue marie says:

    Her cover shot is beautiful.

    I’m not a mom so I asked my mom if there was a stigma when I was growing up since she was a divorced, single parent and she said yes. I asked why she never said anything about it and she told me because it wasn’t my worry and she wouldn’t let anyone make me feel less than.

  4. Kaye says:

    I honestly did not recognize that as Kate Winslett. I hope it’s a case of overzealous photoshopping; otherwise I am mourning one of the more distinctive (because of its slight imperfections) faces in cinema today.

    I hope she has not morphed herself into a generic blonde.

  5. O says:

    Never been able to stand this woman but I think the criticism of her for having 3 kids by 3 different men is really unfair. I’m sure she didn’t plan it that way or want it that way..but life happens.

    • ctkat1 says:

      Totally agree- I’d judge her if she wasn’t keeping her three children safe and healthy, but three kids with three husbands- eh.

      Her first marriage was right around Titanic, and they were young. Her second divorce wasn’t really on her- there were tons of rumors that Sam Mendes was having an affair with Rebecca Hall, and considering he has been with Hall since they split, it seems pretty true. I cannot for the life of me understand why she married a guy who changed his name to RocknRoll, but whatever. Makes sense that this man, who doesn’t have kids, would want to have a child with his wife.

    • Dhavynia says:

      Plus she doesn’t flaunt her kids to the paps for promotion so I give her that much too.

      She doesn’t know what a struggle a single mother goes through and she will never worry about feeding her kids but she will never shake the stigma

    • nico says:

      On IMDB there are posters calling her “Winslut” because her children have different fathers. I find it disgusting.

      Nobody is calling Owen Wilson or Clint Eastwood a slut.

  6. hadleyb says:

    Is she calling herself a single mother? When was she ever a single mother?

    I recall the fathers of her babies were helping, seeing their kids, I am sure with $$ as well. So it bothers me when celebs put themselves in the “single” mother category when there are real single mothers out there with no help from the fathers, they are gone never to be seen again, no help $, not seeing the kids,not helping with the kids etc.

    Getting by the skin of her teeth? Give me a break.

    I like her work but I like HER less every time she opens her mouth. I am beginning to see whey in the 50’s movie studios didn’t want the stars to start unless they allowed it. We should go back to that so I can enjoy my movies more without hating the person playing a good character.

    • Caz says:

      Agree. Most celebrities have already said everything they have to say x 100. And most of them are boring.

      No time for those on mega $$$ trying to appeal to the masses by pretending they have the same problems as normal people. Puhlease. It’s so condescending.

    • bns says:

      +1

      Her interviews have made me dislike her. I wonder if she’ll come after Vogue for photoshopping her to death like she did GQ.

      Spoiler alert: probably not.

    • Lisa says:

      Agreed!

  7. Elodie says:

    Yay I going to see Labor Day tonight, missing the press conference right now but oh well! 🙂

  8. Elizabeth says:

    WOW I think Kate looks gorgeous and glowing! She is a real movie star. I wonder if she got the cover early after Wintour dumped Miley?

  9. Azurea says:

    I really wish she would ditch the blonde hair. It’s never suited her & looks budget.

  10. Tails says:

    While I understand that there are huge burdens lifted from her shoulders on the financial side of things, there is still and emotional and physical aspect to raising children that is very difficult. Maybe those are the struggles she is alluding to, when she claims to be getting by on the skin of her teeth. Add in the unnatural aspect of celebrity, and her challenges in her personal life (her husband leaving her for another woman) those are very tough mental obstacles and as a mother we have to make sure we don’t “check out,” and are always present for our children. I think she acknowledges that she doesn’t have the financial burden a lot of single mothers have.
    I think when Kate speaks sometimes she believes she is doing it on behalf of all women, but instead she pisses some people off.

    • dzee says:

      Agree 1000%. Most comments on this thread are too quick to dismiss her struggles just because she’s wealthy. While that may ease the burden of being a single parent it certainly does not invalidate other emotional or physical challenges she may have gone through. I don’t think its fair to just dismiss someone’s life challenges by saying “well you’re wealthy so quit whining”. life happens to all of us, rich, poor and middle class.

  11. Lol says:

    eh, I don’t really agree. I find it incredible judmental when some single mothers judge other single mothers for not being “real” single mothers.
    Yeah, it makes it easier when you have money and not have to worry how to put dinner on the table every night. The looks you get, the judgement is still the same. I’d say being in the public eye it might even be worse. If you’re a “normal” person, at least your struggles are just that, yours. For her, everything she does is scruntized in the tabloids, judgment, rumours and often quite cruel as well

    • dzee says:

      Exactly!!!!! What makes one single mother more single motherly than the next single mother? People need to stop being so harsh.

  12. bammer says:

    If the children’s fathers are active in their lives, I don’t consider you to be a single mother. She gets married and divorced, then remarried. It’s a lot of change.

  13. PrairieGirl says:

    Talk about deluded, narcissistic and out of touch! Come back and talk to us, Kate, when you’ve been on food stamps to feed the kids you’re raising alone. THAT’S getting by on the skin of your teeth. All those other problems you have? Your husband leaving you and such? People judging your choices? There’s a word for that: LIFE. Welcome to it.

  14. Baskingshark says:

    You married a man who calls himself Ned Rocknroll.

    Clearly, whatever you learned between 27 and 37, it was not enough.

  15. Grant says:

    Beautiful cover shot and she looks ten years younger in the pics.

  16. Weegie Warrior says:

    U have got to be kidding! Ned Rocknroll – seriously? WTF

  17. cc says:

    DIVERGENT 😀

  18. anais says:

    over actress. as in OVER!

  19. Rainbow says:

    I like her. STUNNING cover shot! Cannot wait for Labor Day but I’m not too excited about Divergent…

    Also, what happened to the site? It’s… back to normal?!

  20. bettyrose says:

    I’ve always liked her and I love that she’s rockin’ some serious curves. Maybe she tries too hard to be “every woman” but she has worked her way up, no? Also I agree about 27-37. Those years really took me from party kid to career woman.

  21. Nev says:

    Seriously? This is VOGUE?!!!!! It’s getting worst and worst. The hair is awful on top. What a crap pic to choose. Oh Anna. Can I run the magazine ?!!!!

  22. JLM says:

    I always struggle with the term “single mother.” I mean, there are single mothers and there are single mothers. My SIL has a 3-yr old whose father hasn’t seen his own son since he was 1-day old, and she receives less than $200 a month from the father, when she receives any money at all. She is very lucky b/c she gets help (childcare and money) from her parents.

    I think being a single mother of a young child is much more difficult than having older children, and having money and an involved ex-partner who is a solid parent is much different than someone who is solely, or nearly solely, responsible for raising a child – physically, emotionally, and financially.

    And, I’ll probably get flamed, but I do have more or less sympathy for someone depending on the circumstances. Your ex was a lying, cheating or abusive SOB? You’re widowed? Birth control failed? You have my sympathies. You don’t use or play loosey-goosey with birth control and don’t want to get an abortion, even though you know the father of your fetus is not exactly a stand-up guy? He may be a loser, but I also feel like you made your choices, and now you have to live with them.

    As for Winslet, eh – I feel like you throw an English accent on somebody and people think they’re intelligent. Frankly, I don’t think she’s the sharpest knife in the drawer.

  23. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    She lies about plastic surgery, she lies about having a c-section, and now she’s trying to compare herself to single mothers who really have to struggle to get by? I would say, “bitch, please” – but at this point, even that’s being too polite.

  24. shellybean says:

    Holy Photoshop! That cover is bad.

  25. Tiffany :) says:

    I have never thought Kate looked “botox-y”! The cover is clearly photoshopped, but in her real life I do not see any signs of plastic surgery.

    When she is on the red carpet, in flims like The Reader, you can see very clear lines on her face, some of them quite deep.

  26. aurelia says:

    Thought it was vintage jerry hall at first glance. C.1979

  27. Mrs D says:

    Yet another post on here with threaded in statements about evil, judging Republican politicians. Seriously, enough already. If I wanted to read politics I’d go to a different site. I want to read about Kate Winslet.

    • June says:

      I didn’t really get that the writer was saying the republicans are evil or judging. I think the writer was just providing an example of some modern political opinions regarding single mothers. It’s a fact that Mitt Romney did bash single mothers during a presidential debate. Period. I don’t think it was a big deal to include an example of the stigma Kate is referring to in the article.

  28. hownowbrowncow says:

    “Doesn’t matter if you’ve got money or not?”

    Uhh, kinda does. Kinda makes all the difference in the world.