Kate Beckinsale Details Years of On-Set Harassment: “Complaining About Abuse Should Not Beget More Abuse”

Evening Standard

In an Instagram video, the actress recalled being physically harmed by a male co-star while filming a fight scene, a publicist forcing her to do a photoshoot “the day after I had a miscarriage" and being "felt up" by a crewmember at age 18.

Transcript

00:00So this is not Christmassy at all and I do apologize but it is topical and I think it's very important

00:05I've been following as a lot of people have this situation between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and I must stress

00:12I don't know either of them. I've never met either of them and I wasn't on the set

00:16So I can't speak to any of that. But what I will say is what it has highlighted is

00:22this machine that goes into

00:24Into effect when a woman complains about something

00:29legitimately

00:31Offensive upsetting harmful or whatever in this industry. So the general sense is I've been on a film for example where I was

00:40by the end of it referred to over the walkie-talkie and to my face as that cunt because I

00:47had said I'm finding it very difficult my co-star is drunk every day and

00:51He's obviously going through something and I have full sympathy for that

00:55but I'm also waiting as is the whole crew six hours a day for him to learn his lines and

01:01It means I'm not getting to see my daughter in the evenings ever for the whole movie

01:05the studio's response was to give me a bike so that I could ride around the studio a lot while I was waiting and

01:12And then of course I was called cunt and a bitch and at one point during a take I was called you stupid bitch

01:19and then the director ran off crying and I had to be the one to actually get him back and talk him off the ledge and

01:25Us continue filming. I've had groups of people stand in front of me going what the fuck are we going to do?

01:31How do we make her attractive?

01:33You know, that's all that happens to everybody

01:34I was put on such a strict diet and exercise program on one movie that I lost my periods altogether. That's happened twice

01:42I've been put in a situation

01:44Very unsafe fight situation with two on two different films of two different actors who?

01:51sometimes there's a certain kind of actor who gets a kind of a thrill out of sort of legally being able to harm a woman

01:57during a fight sequence and I was harmed to the point where there were MRIs proving it and

02:02actually, what happened was I was gaslit and

02:06Made to feel that I was the problem blamed and ostracized left out of cast dinners not spoken to

02:13As soon as I mentioned that there was a problem

02:15I've been forced by a publicist that I was employing

02:18To do a photo shoot the day after I'd had a miscarriage and I said I can't I'm bleeding

02:24I don't want to go and change my clothes in front of people that I don't know and do a photo shoot

02:29I'm bleeding out a miscarriage and she was like you have to or you'll be sued

02:34Harvey Weinstein, for example absolutely famous including me if you turn down a film this is without any sexual assault

02:40I was one of the ones fortunate enough not to be shown a body part or massaged or anything like that

02:46But if I you know you turn down a movie or a production deal

02:50He would get on the phone and talk to every director in town and every magazine editor and say don't use her

02:56and it worked and

03:00It's really important that

03:02You know, whatever

03:04Ends up happening with this case and whatever turns out to be

03:08You know the outcome this is going on this has been going on forever

03:13I've got about 47 million stories similar to this where you turn down a I was actually at the age of

03:2118

03:23Felt up by somebody that I

03:25Really trusted on a crew went to the lead actress

03:28Who's known for being a supporter of women and said this has happened and was told no

03:33It didn't went to another actress and said

03:36Crying

03:38I've just been assaulted by this man again

03:41No, you haven't been so this has just been going on forever

03:44And what's really depressing is I see a lot of men going around saying oh, it was very different a while ago

03:50you know the climate's so different and it's so much better it fucking isn't and if you're a woman and

03:55You have a legitimate complaint not I don't have enough baby llamas in my trailer

04:00And I'd like more of a lion

04:01but somebody's touching my boobs or calling me a cunt or calling me a bitch or

04:08Whatever

04:09You're fucked on the whole you're fucked if you mention it. You're fucked. It's supposed to be

04:16That you absorb it and somehow then you're somehow the homie. That's got to stop

04:22that has to stop and I'm grateful to break Blake Lively for

04:26Highlighting the fact that this is not an archaic problem that no one's facing

04:31this is continuing and then when it does happen a machine goes into place to

04:36Absolutely destroy you and I'm sure that's the case in other industries as well, and it's just got to stop

04:45Sorry about it not being Christmassy, but I think it's really important anyway

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