Kate, 42, made the shock announcement while appearing on the latest Graham Norton talk show to promote her new film Love And Friendship, due out in Australia on July 21.
The in-demand star of action flicks, romantic comedies and period dramas, says she was stunned by director Michael Bay’s stand.
“I don’t think I fitted the type of actress Michael Bay, the director, had met before, says Kate, who went on to be the star of the Underworld movies.
“I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde.
“I’d just had my daughter and had lost weight but was told that if I got the part I’d have to work out and I just didn’t understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.
“And then, when we were promoting the film, Michael was asked why he had chosen Ben (Affleck) and Josh (Hartnett) he said, ‘I have worked with Ben before and I love him and Josh is so manly and a wonderful actor’.
“And then when he was asked about me, he’d say, ‘Kate wasn’t so attractive that she would alienate the female audience’.
“He kept saying it everywhere we went and we went to a lot of places.”
The director defended his stand at the time by saying, “he didn’t want someone who was too beautiful”.
“Women feel disturbed when they see someone’s too pretty,” the Transformers director told Movieline at the time.
As if insulting the star of his own movie wasn’t enough, Michael dug the hole even deeper by turning his sights on Kate Winslet.
“When you look at Titanic, Kate Winslet is pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful,” he explained. “That makes it work better for women.”
