BRITISH actress Kate Winslet, who appears nearly nude on the upcoming December issue of Vanity Fair, is not a happy camper lately.

The sexy cover, which shows her naked under a white coat, as well as inside pictures that show her lounging nude on a couch, has had several British newspapers suggesting that the images have been doctored to make her look slimmer.

The Oscar-winning actress - star of the upcoming period movie Revolutionary Road - is known for her curvy, Rubenesque figure and has long been a role model for full-figured women.

In the new pictures, she appears thinner than the size 12 she has claimed to be, sparking the rumours. The Daily Mail even had a professional airbrush artist examine the pictures.

"Her back and lower body have been pinched in to make her look thinner and to give her some curves," the artist, Chris Bickmore, told the Daily Mail.

A representative for Winslet responded to the rumours, telling People Online that "Kate is furious at suggestions that her body has been airbrushed... She is in terrific shape and what you see is how she looks or she would never have agreed to pose for those shots".

Yet in the Vanity Fair article, the actress revealed she still feels like "the fat kid".

"I didn't know any fat famous actresses," she told the magazine.

"I just did not see myself in that world at all... You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid."

Comments on the Daily Mail website have come fast and furious, with a total of 113 people responding to the airbrushing article.

"She looks great, but she doesn't (normally) look like that," said one online comment from HelenSparkles from Leicester.

A spokesman for Vanity Fair responded to the Daily Mail, admitting that while there was some retouching, it was minimal.

"Kate really did look fabulous and hardly needed any retouching at all," said the spokesman.

"Just a little smoothing of the skin tone and covering of blemishes. There was no change in the body shape. She really does look that hot."

It became widely known that the actress opposed any digital manipulation in 2003.

Then, when she discovered that a GQ cover of her had been airbrushed to elongate her legs and to make her look thinner, she fired back.

"The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and, more importantly, I don't desire to look like that," she said then in a statement.

At the time, GQ editor Dylan Jones defended the decision, saying that most glossy magazines digitally alter images.

Since then, Winslet has been staunchly opposed to any retouching.

Last year, she was signed on as the face of Lancome's Tresor perfume. She accepted the gig only if the company promised not to airbrush her for the poster campaign, according to news reports.

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