Kate Beckinsale on disturbing experiences on film sets. She was harassed, attacked and insulted.
Kate Beckinsale complains about the handling of attacks against women in the film industry. It refers to personal experiences. She has been insulted, sexually touched and attacked on film sets, as she reveals in the video she published on Instagram.
Insults on set
The 51-year-old talks about the shocking experiences that have already happened to her while working as an actress. On the one hand, Beckinsale had to work on a film with an actor who was not only drunk, but also constantly forgot his lines and the whole project was constantly delayed. Sometimes the entire crew would just sit around for up to six hours a day and wait for the actor to learn his lines. The delays meant that Beckinsale was unable to see her young daughter throughout the shoot, as she usually returned late in the evening. But when she complained about it, she wasn’t met with sympathy, but rather insults like “stupid bitch” and “cunt” were thrown at her – sometimes from many people at the same time.
From strict diets to dangerous fight scenes
But that wasn’t all. In the video, the Brit also says that she was put on strict diets and fitness plans while filming a film. So strict that the actress stopped menstruating. Another time, Beckinsale was pressured to take part in a photo shoot the day after a miscarriage. When she complained that she was bleeding and didn’t want it, her publicist apparently only replied: “You have to do this or you’ll get sued.”
The “Serendipity” actress also talks about how she was intentionally hurt by two different actors during fight scenes on two different film sets. “I’ve been put in very unsafe fighting situations on two different sets with two different actors. Sometimes there’s a certain type of actor who gets a certain thrill from legally hurting a woman during a fight scene. I got hurt.”
Blake vs. Baldoni as an incentive
“I, like many others, have been following the situation between Blake and Justin Baldoni. I have to emphasize: I don’t know either of them, I’ve never met either of them and I wasn’t on set either,” says Beckinsale, explaining the reasons why she is now speaking out, “but what I want to say is that it shows this machinery, “which is set in motion when a woman complains about something that is legitimately offensive or harmful in this industry.” Beckinsale is referring to the media chaos caused by a legal dispute between actress Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Lively accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment and leading a coordinated smear campaign. The two worked together – she as the protagonist, he as the antagonist and director – on the film “It Ends With Us”, which was released in cinemas in August 2024.