Kate Beckinsale is opening up about troubling on set experiences, including working through a miscarriage.
The 51-year-old British actress shared numerous allegations of harassment and abuse in a four-minute video posted on her Instagram Monday. She began by highlighting the legal battle between Blake Lively and her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star, Justin Baldoni, whom Lively is suing for sexual harassment and retaliation. While Beckinsale said she could not speak on Baldoni and Lively, she acknowledged the impact of their fallout.
“What it has highlighted is this machine that goes into effect when a woman complains about something legitimately offensive, upsetting, harmful or whatever in this industry,” she said.
Beckinsale, who began acting at a four, recalled harassment throughout her career, which included a specific instance where she was referred to as “that c**t” on set when she called out her male co-star for being “drunk every day.” She continued, “At one point during a take, I was called ‘you stupid b***h.’”
Most harrowingly, Beckinsale shared that she was “forced by a publicist” to do a photo shoot “the day after I had a miscarriage.”
“I said, ‘I can’t. I’m bleeding. I don’t want to go and change my clothes in front of people I don’t know and do a photo shoot. I’m bleeding out a miscarriage.’ And she was like, ‘You have to, or you’ll be sued,’” the actress recalled.
Beckinsale reiterated that abuse on set “has been going on forever. I have about 47 million stories similar to this.” The actress is one of numerous women to come forward about unwanted advances from Harvey Weinstein who was convicted of sexual assault.
The actress added, “I was, at the age of 18, felt up by somebody that I really trusted on a crew.”
She explained that she “went to the lead actress, who’s known for being a supporter of women, and said this has happened and was told, ‘No, it didn’t.’ I went to another actress, crying, and said I’d just been assaulted by this man and again told, ‘No, you haven’t been.’”
In Beckinsale’s Instagram caption, she concluded, “There are far too many casualties of this, many of whom I know personally, and it really falls to both men and women in our industry to be part of stamping this out for good.”
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