Kate Winslet on why she doesn’t have a chef or a nanny

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Kate Winslet, 33, has a new interview in the latest Hello! Magazine in which she’s promoting her role as the spokesperson for Lancome. She gives some of same kinds of responses we’ve come to expect from her – that she’s happy and content whatever size she’s wearing and that she’s comfortable with the process of aging. There’s not a lot of drama around Winslet and I think that’s why it seems like she’s repeating herself or is somehow boring in interviews. She’s consistent and gracious, and she’s often asked the same kinds of questions about her body image. One thing she said that I found refreshing is that she doesn’t have a cook or a nanny despite having the resources to hire a full staff. I’ve heard her say that she enjoys doing things around the house but this is the first time I can recall hearing her say that she has hardly any help at all.

Kate has daughter Mia, 8, from her first marriage, and son Joe, 5, from her current marriage to director Sam Mendes.

People must think you have a perfect life. Great marriage, two beautiful kids, all these awards, plum roles…
“I don’t have a perfect life. There are things I could implement within my life that would probably make it easier. But I deliberately don’t do it because if I did, I would be living that movie star existence that I really try and resist. I mean, it’s very tempting to have a nanny and live in a gated community and have a chef – I’d love to have a few dinners cooked for me. But I don’t want that for my children. When they’re older, if people say to them, ‘Did you have a chef?’ I want them to be shocked by the question.”

You seem to be very happy. Is that an advantage of getting older?
“I’m happier about myself than I’ve ever been. I remember being 21, 22 and looking at other women and thinking, ‘Oh, they just look so brilliant. I’m sure I’m never going to look that good.’ I am absolutely amazed that here I am at the age of 33, having had two children, and having had no work done, and I feel really good. Maybe it’s just hormones or something. And age.”

How do you stay in shape?
“I haven’t done any exercise since October. I haven’t done a thing. So who knows how I’m holding it together. Pilates definitely helped a bit. However, when I was doing it consistently, I wasn’t doing it that consistently. So maybe it’s just being busy and age.”

So what are some of the best things about being in your thirties?
“I don’t feel self-conscious any more. I think turning 30, you’re allowed to be less obsessed with how you look. I really like being 33. I don’t think I look younger than I am or older than I am. I think I look my age. Also, while I feel very joined at the hip with my family, I also feel independent. I feel like I can stand on my own two feet.”

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, June 15, 2009]

I like Winslet and am glad she finally got the recognition she deserved with her Oscar win this year. She just seems like a nice, normal person who is doing her best for her family. If I was in her shoes, though, I would absolutely get some help around the house. There’s no shame in it, but she feels strongly that her children should be raised without a staff and that’s admirable. I get the impression that even if Winslet had a house full of helpers her kids would still grow up to be grounded, kind people, though. She just seems like that kind of mom.

Kate Winslet is shown out with Mia and Joe in NY on 5/26/09. Credit: INFphoto.com

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31 Responses to “Kate Winslet on why she doesn’t have a chef or a nanny”

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  1. SixxKitty says:

    “When they’re older, if people say to them, ‘Did you have a chef?’ I want them to be shocked by the question.”

    I love her… that’s just so Kate 🙂

  2. Gloaming says:

    I find her so irritating, almost as irritating as Gwynnie!
    She’s been banging on about how normal and down to earth she is for years and years, it gets on my nerves. Sure, most celebs have nanny’s but should she be commended for actually raising children the way you’re supposed to?

  3. Jolie says:

    She doest have a nanny so who the he’ll is watching her kids when she’s on the set for 14 hours

  4. bros says:

    im glad they dont have a chef, however, i am 100% sure she has at least a housekeeper. there is no way she doesnt have one. i’d also like her to be quiet about how normal she is.

  5. M.E. says:

    Kate, dear . . . I love you but 33 is not “old” or aging . . . wait 10 years and then you can talk about those concerns.

  6. Hanh says:

    33 is old and aging in Hollywood though!

  7. KDRockstar says:

    I forget that she is so young because she does have lines and wrinkles from acting. I love that she doesn’t try to hide them, though. That first pic is my favorite… that is the harried mum getting the kids off to school.

  8. wow says:

    yeah, I’m getting a bit sick of this whole song and dance…

    she wants her kids to be “shocked”?

    Basically she’s raising them to be just as judgemental about everyone else’s lifesyle as she’s being by constantly preaching about her own.

    It isn’t about cooks and nannys and a housekeeper, it’s about how you treat your children and everyone else. (and no, we don’t have any of the above).

    She’s on the wrong track here, being so self-righteous and it’ll bite her in the ass very soon.

  9. Taradash says:

    i really love her. and sam menedes

    Godspeed Kate.

  10. georgiagrl says:

    She keeps it real!
    Just look at that picture of her au natural. She never has an entourage around her and all that crap, and she is one of the 5 best actresses in the industry.
    Loves her!!!!!

  11. Feebee says:

    She keeps talking about her normality because people/magazines keep asking her about them.

  12. PJ says:

    Just saw her in “Revolutionary Road” and the performance blew me away, even better than “The Reader.” And she was so beautiful, just glowing with that English rose skin.

    Anyway she has the right to live her life as she wants. She’s a great actress who’s not comfortable with being a movie star. Of course that’s what she talks about in her interviews, because that’s one quality that makes her different from other actresses.

    Some people actually do like to do housework and cook–and I’m one of them. Though none of my friends understand this — everyone I know hates housework!

  13. pomme says:

    that looks alike the story on Christian Bale cellphone. He has a cellphone(every one has a cellphone)and a nanny when he promotes a movie but no assistant… She may have help when she works or promotes otherwise she’s alone!

  14. jennifer aniston says:

    shes is suppose to be 33 right

  15. fizXgirl314 says:

    i think that feminist lady (i forget her name at the moment) should have written about how we all want to be like Kate Winselet. she’s very unique at what she does in that she’s always in these non-mainstream films and she’s very successful at it. it seems that when a directory wants to make an intellectual film with great critical acclaim and be nominated for all these awards, they call winselet. that’s pretty commendible. unlike AJ, who generally does blockbuster films and not always ones that do well… it’s like kate winselet has typecast herself as the girl who gets the oscar worthy movies… if i wanted to be a actress (which i don’t) i’d definitely want to be kate. i think what she has achieved is very difficult…

  16. Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

    Muzzle, duct tape, sewing, Krazy Glue, ball gag, velco strips…take your pick. Not only will covering her mouth help her manage her weight (whatever…), but it will save us from having to hear the same complaint for another FIFTEEN YEARS.

    I guess I should have known better than to click, because what other topic in creation exists? Evidently, none. I’ll warrant that this condition of hers has already passed into the realm of science. Which is say, I’m going to put a patent out on the ‘Kate Winslet Somehow Manages to Turn Every Single Conversation Into A Self-Indulgent And Protracted Pity Party, And Brazen Attempt To Fish For Hollow Compliments Theorem’.

    I know a lot of people find it endearing, but it seems kind of disingenuous to me. I don’t cotton to this mindset that female celebrities have about proving similarities with everyone else through blathering on about insecurities.

    Sure, the overly-cocky attitudes of the new batch of ‘Too Beautiful For Talent’ spawn is irritating beyond belief, but to still be going on about childhood and early adulthood tests of confidence? Strikes me as calculatingly pathetic. I guess this article was the final straw, because (sacrilege alert), it looks like I can’t stand her.

    Since her Oscar-grubbing days are over, I guess this is the only thing she has left to talk about. That, or her husband’s WILDLY overrated films. ‘Oh, no! How are the pretty rich white people going to get out of this one?’

    Spare me, would you? Oh, well.

  17. paranel says:

    Very grounded and smart woman. You go Kate.

  18. rinaz says:

    Probably out of topic, but why does Kate has a hole on the sole of her shoe?

  19. fizXgirl314 says:

    cuz she’s “keepin it real” rinaz :-p

  20. Diana says:

    Love Kate and Meryl … two working mom’s who keep it real. Love the no-make up, hole in the shoe.

  21. Granger says:

    I think she’s great, and I admire her resolve to keep her family grounded, etc., but surely she has SOME help — which translates into MORE help than most “regular” people. I mean, she must have a housekeeper or someone who cleans her house regularly, right?

    I love cooking and taking care of my kids (although I admit to wishing I had a nanny at least one day a week!), but I would kill for someone to clean my toilets and mop my floors — all the horrid, monotonous domestic chores one endures day after day. At the very least, it would free up more time to spend with the kids or cook amazing meals…

  22. georgiagrl says:

    Mama Bear
    Girl you need to chill out!
    I feel ya on your point about the pretty white celebs though when women of color are very under represented in mainstream Hollywood and would love to have Kate’s “problems” I’m not hatin on her though cause she’s alot less a media ho like the rest of them.
    Peace

  23. Ana says:

    Mabye it’s just the shoes because there seems to be a hole on each.

    Personally, if I could afford it right now I would hire a maid. To me, a nanny is too much for two kids (while she isn’t working.)
    She looks great at the award shows because of all the makeup, hair, and dress people. She works out for them. But I thought she was about 40.

  24. wow says:

    mamma besser, that was pretty funny!

    ‘Kate Winslet Somehow Manages to Turn Every Single Conversation Into A Self-Indulgent And Protracted Pity Party, And Brazen Attempt To Fish For Hollow Compliments Theorem’.

    that pretty much says it all about what bugs about her, and yeah, it could be worse, but does that make it palatable? non.

  25. morgs says:

    She’s starting to grate. Get a new line Kate. I used to love everything that came out of your mouth…but the charm is starting to fade.

  26. raven says:

    Keep in mind that she is answering the questions she was asked in the interview. She and Julia Roberts seem to have a lot in common in that they want to raise their kids themselves and give them a relatively normal life.

    I’m sure that Kate has a few babysitters or child care or cleaners or whatever, like most of us do periodically. She doesn’t want her kids to grow up like spoiled Hollywood brats, like Ryan O’Neal’s kid or Paris Hilton. And if you are watching your own kids most of the time,that’s not likely to happen. Can’t say as I blame her.

  27. Rosanna says:

    Who cares for this ugly b*tch anyway? She’s always thinking that everybody is looking at her. She’s not Giselle.

  28. Shannon says:

    Why all the hate for people who use a nanny? Sure, there is the stereotype out there of rich couples who employ 10 nannies, never see their kids, and then send them off to boarding school – but this is more Jane Eyre than reality.

    If you work, SOMEONE has to care for your kids. I’d rather have one loving, stable woman (with whom my kids can truly bond) take care of my kids while I’m at work than a revolving door of low-income daycare workers. Most of us would gladly employ a nanny but we simply can’t afford it. But according to Kate, use of such high-quality child care = not really “raising” ones kids? What would she say about the daycare kids, the latchkey kids – i.e. the rest of us?

    Although I like Kate, she needs to get over herself. When she’s filming, she works 16 hour days. When she’s promoting a film, she jets off across country. She attends tons of premiers and charity events. She definitely has full-time, 2000 hours/year job, even if work is somewhat sporadic. SOMEONE is watching her kids during these times. So is her point that she is better than all the other Hollywood slags because she only uses nannies part-time? Once again, in her never-ending crusade to prove how “real” she is, Kate is splitting hairs and offending her fans out there who actually ARE real.

  29. Anna says:

    No work done??? Come on Kate, why lie about your nose job? It’s very obvious.

  30. Magsy says:

    I guess it depends where you’re living,
    maybe celebs can live more normally in Europe than they can in L.A. I guess. But whether she uses a nanny, or chef, who cares. There’s loads of middle class people who use them. I just think she always makes too big a deal of how normal she is.

  31. Polly says:

    Kate is a great inspiring woman! She’s a real woman, with a head on her shoulders. Plus, she’s one of the most beutiful actresses out there. For all of you who say that you’re sick and tired of hearing her talk about her ”normalcy” well, for one these are the questions that she’s being asked by the media, and TWO, it’s up to you to stop following celebrity gossip.