The actress has spoken about homophobia in the film industry and has told why some interpreters do not want to come out of the closet.
Kate Winslet, the 2009 Oscar-winning actress for The Reader, has spoken out about homophobia in Hollywood. The interpreter has stated that she knows actors who are afraid of revealing her sexuality due to the consequences that this may have on her career.
As she has recounted in an interview with The Times:
I can’t tell you how many young actors I know – some well-known, others just starting out – who are terrified that their sexuality will be revealed and that this will get in the way of casting for heterosexual roles. It’s fucked up
Although Hollywood appears to be taking small steps to be more inclusive and representative on the big and small screens, there is still a lot to do. Movies and television series are becoming a little more aware, but according to Winslet, something very different happens with the personal lives of the performers.
“I’m telling you, a well-known actor just got hold of an American agent and the agent says: ‘I understand that you are bisexual. I’m not going to advertise that. ‘ I can think of at least four actors who are hiding their sexuality. It is painful. Because they are afraid of being discovered. And that’s why they say, “I don’t want to be discovered,” she adds.
Winslet has stressed that she is counting this so that actors who are entering the film industry feel more secure in their careers. “I don’t mean to intimidate or stand up to Hollywood,” she explains. “We’re just talking about young actors who might be considering joining this profession and finding a way to make it more open so there is less judgment, discrimination and homophobia,” she concludes.
The actress premieres this month her new series Mare of Easttown, an HBO fiction that hits the streaming platform on April 18. In it, Winslet takes on the shoes of Detective Mare Sheehan, who must solve a murder case in a small town in Pennsylvania while her life is unraveling. Additionally, she has also signed on for the Avatar sequels. Avatar 2, the second installment in the saga directed by James Cameron, plans to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.
