TITANIC star Kate Winslet confronted a former classmate who once bullied her at school and told her: "You're a bitch. You made my life hell."

Kate, within days of being nominated for an Oscar, bumped into the bully at a department store - and gave her a mouthful. In a string of withering put-downs, famous Kate said to her: "I thought you were going to be a model -how come you're working behind a beauty counter?"

The actress who was called cruel nicknames like "Blubber" at school, met the bully while out shopping with her mum. Kate said: "I saw this girl selling make-up behind a counter who was the ringleader of the bunch who made my life a real nightmare. "I said to my mum, 'I going to go and say something'. "She said, 'No Kate, don't'. "I think she thought I was going to attack her or something but I'm not a violent person. "I said, 'No, let's just go and say hello'. "I walked up and said, 'Hello, how are you?' She said, 'Oh, fine, how are you?' "She was a bit panicky because she remembered how much of a bitch she'd been and suddenly I was a bit well-known and she felt very embarrassed.

"This girl was going to be a model and have horses and her dad was going to buy her a car if she grew her fingernails and all this stuff. "I said, 'Don't you want to be a model or a dancer?' "And she replied, 'No, I'm just waiting for. Uh, .you know, a couple of contracts to come in and just doing this for the time being. "I said, 'Oh great' and she said, 'Things are good for you then?' "And I came back with, 'Yeah they are - and I just want to say thanks for being such a bitch 'cos you made me much stronger - so thanks a lot'. Then I walked off. "And I thought, 'Yes, come on!'. It made me feel really, really good because she had made my life not nice to live for a while for absolutely no reason.''

Kate, 23, suffered the "nightmare" taunts at Redroofs theatre school, in Maidenhead, Berkshire. She said: "I was mentally bullied. I would just go and sit there and think, 'Let this make you stronger'.'' Kate, named Body of the Year, also blasted blasted film bosses for being obsessed with her weight. She said: "It drives me mad. It doesn't stop. "You don't have to be a stick insect to be a successful actor. I'm the youngest person ever nominated for two Oscars - so there's your proof." The size-14 stunner added: "You ask any man, 'Do you like someone with a shape or someone with a flat chest?' and they say, 'Oh no, give us something to get hold of'. "I'm the body of the year according to some opinion poll. You just think, 'What are you on about? Why are they even voting about bodies? So what? Who cares?"