Kate Beckinsale hits back at rumours she was hospitalised for plastic surgery

Kate Beckinsale has been responding to rumours about why she was hospitalised back in March.

The actress took to Instagram on Sunday to show an image of herself from early on in her career with a lengthy caption explaining that the “insidious bullying” had reached a point where she needed to step in. Following her hospital stay, many people were making the claim that her face looked different, insinuating she had been using Botox or fillers.

“I hate talking about this because I hate adding to this conversation but I’m doing it because insidious bullying of any kind over time takes a toll,” her caption began.

“These videos might be 20 years apart – maybe more. Every time I post anything – and by the way, this has been the case since I was about 30 – I am accused of having had unrecognisable surgery /using Botox using fillers /being obsessed with looking younger, and it’s really such a tiresome and subtly vicious way to bully a person.”

The Underworld actress once had a plastic surgeon to confirm that no cosmetic work had been done on her face.

“I don’t actually do any of those things – I’ve even gone to the trouble of having a plastic surgeon categorically state that I don’t and haven’t,” her caption continued. “Still, every time there’s a chorus of my God, you’re unrecognisable... it happens constantly and it’s usually women that are doing it.”

She then pointed out the differences between more current photos of herself compared against older versions, attributing most of them to the traditional ageing process or beauty trends from the era, like over-plucked eyebrows.

“As you can see from these two videos, what is different is that I lived in the UK, and was paler,I used to pluck the shit out of my eyebrows, I loved that brown lipstick that everybody wore,” Beckinsale explained. “I had a fuller face, as most of us do in our late teens and 20s. Makeup techniques were matte, not nearly so glossy. I thought contours were something I found difficult in geography lessons.”

To close out the caption, she noted that she didn’t think the negative comments would stop because of her post, but still felt the need to have her opinion out there.

“I’m posting this knowing full well that it will have absolutely no effect,” she concluded. “It isn’t going to stop. But I’m also posting it because whatever someone looks like, accusing them constantly of things they haven’t done, or being obsessed with youth when actually, currently I’m obsessed with surviving loss, is bullying. Please stop now.”

Beckinsale first announced she was in the hospital back in March on Mother’s Day in the UK. The 50-year-old actor shared an Instagram photo of herself in a hospital bed. In the caption, she paid tribute to her mother Judy Loe and the others who had supported her while she was sick, but she did not explain why she was in the hospital to begin with.

“Thank you to those that love us and support us when it’s s*** and try to make sure there are some bits that aren’t,” she wrote. “And for looking after our dogs when we can’t, and lead us to remember happy things when we can’t. And turn up when we are sick and sit with us... And send balloons and check in and pull us out of wells with love.”