Kate Winslet has bared it all for the cameras before, even coached others through the process. But the star explained recently just how photographer Mario Testino got her to strip down.

“You know that his biggest strength without ?fail is making women look beautiful,” she said at the El Museo del Barrio gala Thursday evening in New York City, as she presented the celebrity favorite with an award honoring his career.

“When Mario turns to you and says, ‘It’s beautiful, but I think it? would work better naked, no?’ How can one refuse?” Winslet, who has talked openly about issues with her body, explained, “No matter what? insecurities about oneself a subject may have, Mario makes them go away ?like a magician.” She continued, “One moment you are in the hair and makeup chair fully ?clothed and wishing you had smoother skin, longer legs and smaller feet and then Mario comes in and in that charming way he takes you by the? hand and says, ‘Don’t worry it’s going to be amazing.’”

Testino, who also shot the famed engagement portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, says convincing Winslet was as easy as she claims. “I said to her, I want you to pose ?nude for this exhibition,” he said of the “Todo o Nada” exhibit that will open in Rome in July. “And she was like, ‘Oh, OK, Mario.’ ??She said yes right away.” That didn’t come as a surprise to Testino. “Most of them I think trust me. I would never let them down.”

source: PEOPLE