Kate Beckinsale says she was “felt up” by crew member as a teenager on movie set
Kate Beckinsale has come forward about an incident of sexual harassment she endured on a film set as a teenager.
In an Instagram post, Beckinsale shared multiple stories of harassment and intimidation on various sets throughout her career, detailing times when she was intentionally hurt by a male co-star during a fight sequence, forced by her publicist to work one day after suffering a miscarriage, and being prescribed role-specific diets so restrictive that she lost her period.
In one particularly troubling instance, she remembered being assaulted by a crew member when she was a teenager.
“I was 18 and felt up by somebody that I really trusted on a crew,” she said. “I went to the lead actress who was known for being a supporter of women,” she continued, “And said, ‘This is happening,’ and was told, ‘No, it didn’t.’ I went to another actress and said I’d just been assaulted by this man and told, ‘No, you haven’t been.'” She also said: “This has been going on forever. I have 47 million stories similar to this.”
In her video, she also made special mention of fellow actor Blake Lively, who recently brought a lawsuit against her co-star and director Justin Baldoni, alleging that he sexually harassed her on the set of their hit film It Ends With Us earlier this year. Lively also alleged that he started a coordinated smear campaign to discredit her after rumours of their conflict arose over the summer.
“I am grateful to Blake Lively for highlighting that this is not an archaic problem no one is facing,” Beckinsale said. “This is continuing. When it does happen a machine goes in place to absolutely destroy you.”
Lively filed the lawsuit last week, reigniting a familiar conversation in Hollywood about the tolerance for on-set harassment and the intolerance for those who speak out about it. Baldoni, who denies any wrongdoing, was quickly dropped by his agency following the suit.
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