Kate Winslet and Nigella Lawson look so pleased

It is the most delicious news. Women are happiest with their lives and the way they look when they are a generous size 14.

Contentment, it seems, comes with curves. Perhaps that's why Kate Winslet and Nigella Lawson look so pleased with themselves.

In a poll of 3,000 women, size 14s rated their general happiness higher than any other female shape, with a quarter saying they liked their appearance.


Almost half said they were completely happy with their career, while a third rated their love lives as the best possible.

Second happiest, according to the research, were size 12 women, with almost three quarters saying they were totally satisfied with their friendships and almost half happy with their careers.

Size eights came third in the happiness poll, closely followed by those who wear a size 16 - the average dress size for British women. They, in turn, were followed by the slender size 10s.

But women who wear a size 24 or above didn't fare quite so well in the research carried out for Special K cereal.

Some 18 per cent of this group said they were extremely unhappy with their lives.

Only 4 per cent were happy with their work while more than one in ten admitted they were extremely unhappy in their love lives. Size 20s were second in the list of the unhappiest women followed by those who wear a size 22.


Larger ladies were not alone in their discontent. Size sixes were rated fourth unhappiest.

'It's great to discover that being a size zero doesn't necessarily bring you happiness,' said a spokesman for Special K.

'Our data shows that the curvier size 14 woman is much more comfortable with her shape and has a happier outlook on life.'

Kate Winslet, thought to be a size 10 to 12 but who has been a 14 as well, has long been a champion of well rounded women. She won a public apology and libel damages from a magazine which

wrongly reported she had visited a diet doctor. She said she hoped her success would show girls they did not need to be thin to be happy.

'I feel very strongly that curves are natural, womanly and real,' she has said.

'I shall continue to hope that women are able to believe in themselves for who they are inside, and not feel under such incredible pressure to be unnaturally thin. I have always been, and shall continue to be, honest when it comes to body/ weight issues.' Nigella Lawson criticised the 'great god of skinny' last year.

The TV cook, who is thought to be a size 16, said: 'I do think that women who spend all their lives on a diet probably have a miserable sex life: if your body is the enemy, how can you relax and take pleasure?'

Angelina Jolie is at the other end of the curve spectrum.

The Hollywood actress, thought to be a size 6 to 8, has been criticised for being too thin but remains unrepentant.