Actress Kate Winslet has told the BBC that women should celebrate "being a real [body] shape" after being told on a recent film set to sit up straighter to hide her belly rolls.

Speaking about her upcoming film Lee, on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Winslet said it was her job to be like her character - the fashion model turned acclaimed World War Two photographer Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller.

"She wasn’t lifting weights or doing Pilates. She was eating cheese, bread and drinking wine, and not making a big deal of it. So of course, her body would be soft," Winslet said.

She said women should celebrate “being a real shape, being soft and maybe having a few extra rolls”.

“We’re so used to perhaps not necessarily seeing that and enjoying it. The instinct weirdly is to see it and criticise it," she said. “It’s interesting how much people do like labels for women."

Winslet said the topic is a conversation that needs to be had.

“Life is too short,” she added. “I don’t want to look back and go 'why did I worry about that thing' and so guess what - I don’t worry anymore.”

Winslet, 48, has been a champion for women and has openly spoken out against body shaming in the past.