LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Kate Beckinsale, known for films like Pearl Harbor, Van Helsing and Serendipity, has revealed that she was forced to do a photoshoot shortly after suffering a miscarriage.
The 51-year-old actor shared a video on her Instagram handle on Monday, recalling traumatic experiences in her career, including being assaulted at the age of 18 while on set and subsequently dismissed by two female colleagues.
Beckinsale’s comments come days after Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Speaking in the video, Beckinsale highlighted the challenges women face in the entertainment industry when raising complaints about misconduct.
"I've been forced by a publicist that I was employing to do a photo shoot the day after I'd 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 that I don't know and do a photo shoot. I'm bleeding out of a miscarriage.' And she was like, 'You have to, or you'll be sued,'" Beckinsale said.
The actor also recollected an incident where she pointed out that her male co-star was consistently arriving late and intoxicated on set, which led to her being subjected to abuse in response.
"My co-star is drunk every day, and he's obviously going through something, and I have full sympathy for that. But I'm also waiting, as is the whole crew, six hours a day for him to learn his lines, and it means I'm not getting to see my daughter in the evenings ever for the whole movie," she stated.
Beckinsale stressed the importance of ensuring complaints of abuse are taken seriously in every industry.
"Complaining about abuse should not beget more abuse, particularly at work where there should be inviolable safeguarding in place, and it should not be expected of women who have been harmed, insulted, hurt, shamed or in any other way abused (mostly with at least 100 witnesses) to have to be 'one of the boys' and take it on the chin or face retribution for having been abused in the first place," she wrote in the caption of her post.
While referencing Lively and Baldoni, Beckinsale clarified that she does not personally know either of them and cannot comment on what allegedly transpired on their set.
"I don't want anybody, male or female, who has a legitimate complaint to then have that weaponised against them in any industry, anywhere, and I mention this in association with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni because our industry makes things more visible due to the press and the public getting deliberately involved and led towards an opinion they don't realise is deliberate."
"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," she added.
Beckinsale was last seen in "Canary Black", an action-thriller directed by Pierre Morel.