Kate Beckinsale opens up about on-set abuse in the wake of Blake Lively allegations

The Blake Lively defamation case, and her allegations of sexual misconduct against Justin Baldoni, have had a knock-on effect in Hollywood. Abigail Breslin spoke out recently about the misogyny women face in the entertainment industry, and now Kate Beckinsale has come forward with some harrowing stories of her own experiences.

Beckinsale explained in a video that she believed there was “a machine that goes into effect” whenever a woman, “complains about something legitimately offensive, upsetting, harmful or whatever in this industry.” Lively’s complaints against Baldoni were regarding sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior, like telling her he could talk to her dead father. The “machine” certainly got her—Baldoni was seemingly able to turn social media against her before she made the allegations public.

Beckinsale made it clear that she had never met Lively or Baldoni, but she wanted to explain how difficult life could be for a woman in the entertainment industry. In a pre-#MeToo world, misogyny was rife. On one occasion, she spoke against an unnamed male co-star who was showing up drunk to set, and was punished for it. “I was called a c*nt and a b*tch. And then at one point during a take, I was called ‘you stupid b*tch,'” Beckinsale remembered.

Then there was the physical harm. “Sometimes there’s a certain kind of actor who gets kind of a thrill out of legally being able to harm a woman during a fight sequence,” Beckinsale said. She had been injured on two occasions while filming movies, and “blamed and ostracized” as soon as she 0bjected. She was made to lose so much weight on one movie that her periods stopped. On another occasion, she was “felt up”—sexually assaulted—by a crew member she previously trusted. Once again she tried to speak out and was ignored. “Went to the lead actress, who’s known for being a supporter of women, and said this has happened and was told, ‘No, it didn’t,'” Beckinsale explained. “I went to another actress, crying, and said I’d just been assaulted by this man and again told, ‘No, you haven’t been.'” Beckinsale did not name the movie, the perpetrator or the two women.

Beckinsale did however name Harvey Weinstein as a man who abused his power. We know now that he was one of the worst sexual predators in Hollywood, but in the era before #MeToo he was a huge player in the industry. Beckinsale said that although she was lucky enough to “not to be shown a body part or massaged or anything like that,” Weinstein could still ruin the career of any actress he didn’t like. “If you turned down a movie or a production deal, he would get on the phone and talk to every director in town, every magazine editor, and say, ‘Don’t use her,'” she said. “And it worked.”

Arguably the most hard-hitting of the stories told by Beckinsale concerned a miscarriage. The day after it happened she was contracted to do a photoshoot, but she was still bleeding. Despite the obvious pain and grief she must have been feeling, she was “forced” to do the photoshoot anyway. Beckinsale recollected, “I said ‘I can’t, I’m bleeding, I don’t want to go and change my clothes in front of people I don’t know. I don’t want to go and do a photoshoot, I’m bleeding out a miscarriage.'” But she was told, “You have to or you’ll be sued.”

In the comments of the Instagram post, plenty of people expressed horror and sympathy for what Beckinsale had been through. But there were others who used the post to comment on Beckinsale’s looks, question her story, or even stand up for Justin Baldoni. Sadly, it seems we still have a long way to go before women in Hollywood are safe.