After Blake Lively’s lawsuit against co-star Justin Baldoni, actresses have spoken up about their own experiences within the industry.
This includes Amber Heard, who defended Lively, and Kate Beckinsale, who spoke about her own experiences with assault on set.
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In a now-removed video posted to Instagram on 30 December, Beckinsale detailed her harrowing experiences within the movie industry.
Beckinsale spoke about abuse on Hollywood sets
In her video, the actress admitted she didn’t know Lively or Baldoni, but wanted to shed light on the “machine that goes into effect when a woman complains about something” in Hollywood.
Having posted the video on 30 December, she said, “So this is not Christmassy at all and I do apologize but it is topical and I think it is very important.”
The actress first gave a disclaimer
Talking about what encouraged her to speak about her experiences, the Underworld star said, “I’ve been following, as a lot of people have, this situation between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and I must stress I don’t know either of them, I’ve never met either of them and I wasn’t on the set so I can’t speak to any of that.”
Beckinsale wanted to shed light on the harassment
“But what I will say is 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 continued.
Having complained about the difficulty of working a male actor on set who was “drunk every day” the actress recalls being referred to as “that c***” because of it.
She recalled the whole experience
“I’ve been on a film, for example, where I was by the end of it referred to over the walkie-talkie and to my face as ‘that c***,’ because I had said I’m finding it very difficult, my co-star is drunk every day. He was going through something,” Beckinsale said.
The studio didn’t help with the issue
“I have sympathy for that, but I was waiting, as was the crew, for six hours a day for him to learn his lines,” Beckinsale added.
“It means I’m not getting to see my daughter in the evenings the whole movie. The studio’s response was to give me a bike so I could ride around the studio lot while I was waiting,” she said.
Beckinsale was verbally harassed for complaining
“And then, of course, I was called a c–t and a b—h. During a take I was called a ‘stupid b—h.’” Beckinsale added of her experience on that set.
Recalling other experiences, Beckinsale shared that she had been “put on such a strict diet and exercise program” on two different sets so much that she lost her period both times.
Beckinsale also recalled being physically hurt on set
The Aviator star also narrated being put in a “very unsafe fight situation” on two action movie sets with male actors that caused her to be physically hurt.
“Sometimes, there’s a certain kind of actor who gets a thrill out of legally being able to harm a woman during a fight sequence,” she shared.
The actress went to the doctor’s because of it
“And I was harmed, to the point where there were MRIs proving it. What happened was, I was gaslit and made to feel like I was the problem, blamed and ostracized, left out of cast dinners, not spoken to as soon as I mentioned there was a problem,” Beckinsale shared of being harassed on set.
She was also forced to work after a miscarriage
Beckinsale also narrated that in another instance she was “forced by a publicist” to attend a photoshoot only a day after having a miscarriage.
“I said, ‘I can’t. I am bleeding. I don’t want to go and change my clothes in front of people I don’t know and do a photoshoot,” she shared, to which she says the publicist responded “‘you’ll have to, or you’ll be sued.’”
Beckinsale recalled various instances of harassment
The actress also mentioned the shamed producer Harvey Weinstein, saying he threatened to call “every direction in town” to refuse her work if she turned down a movie from him.
The star’s video pointed out several instances where she was verbally and physically harassed as well as gaslit for her complaints, which certainly raises a lot of flags about Hollywood.
