Kate Winslet is all of us.

Growing up a slightly awkward teenager in England to a working class family, she’s come a long way from the simple roots. And she’s living proof that having an Oscar is the best revenge to all the bullies who traumatized her.

“I was always comparing myself to others,” the actress said at a WE Day UK event. “They called me ‘Blubber,’ they teased me for wanting to act. Locked me in the cupboard and would laugh at me.” As she grew up, casting directors would tell her she’d have to settle for the fat girl roles: “I’d never let go of that, and they’d say, ‘You’re just not what we’re looking for, Kate.’ This unkindness made me feel truly horrendous.”

But she persevered.

“I was always auditioning for the school plays. I didn’t really get very good parts, mind you, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t care,” Kate said. “I would often get cast as the crocodile, or the scarecrow, or the dark fairy. I was even a dancing frog once. But it didn’t matter. I still loved acting. It didn’t matter how big or small the parts were. I wanted to be great and I was determined to keep learning.”

Today, Kate has an Oscar (for 2008’s The Reader) as well as six other nominations. We’d say she’s done a pretty good job, eh?

She had also previously spoken to Billy Bush on the Today show about her past trauma, saying: “I was kind of bullied when I was younger — for being chubby, and I had girls who were envious of me because I was acting a little bit as a teenager. So this is my revenge. This right here. This lovely career that I have been blessed with. I have healthy children, I have a really happy life, so it’s like, ‘Look at me now, girls.’”

H/T: US Weekly.