Kate Beckinsale is tired of 'insidious bullying', speculation about plastic surgery

Kate Beckinsale is shutting down rumors that she had gotten plastic surgery done during her recent months-long hospitalization.

“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,” Beckinsale, 50, said in a post on Instagram, which also had two videos of her 20 years apart.

The actor said that she is tired of being accused of "having had unrecognisable surgery /using Botox using fillers / being obsessed with looking younger," ever since she turned 30.

"It’s really such a tiresome and subtly vicious way to bully a person," Beckinsale said.

Beckinsale said that she doesn't actually "do any of those things," and that she has even had a plastic surgeon clarify that, but the comments don't stop.

'Life happens'

"It happens constantly and it’s usually women that are doing it," Beckinsale said. "Life happens - obviously I have aged, everybody ages."

However, Beckinsale said that she is "not too concerned" about aging because of her father's death, who died when she was just 5.

Beckinsale said that her father's demise left her "absolutely crippled with severe anxiety and panic attacks" and she thought she too would die of a heart attack like him. All that stress would lead her to the emergency rooms often and she would be "completely immobilised by that anxiety."

The "Underworld" star said that she finds it ironic when people accuse her of being scared of aging because she never thought she would even see the end of her 20's.

Beckinsale also went onto explain that she looks different in the two videos because earlier when she lived in the U.K., she was paler, would pluck of her eyebrows and had a fuller face as most people in their late teens/early 20's do. She also said that the difference in makeup techniques also contributed to the difference in appearance.

'Please stop now'

"I’m posting this knowing full well that it will have absolutely no effect," Beckinsale said. "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," she added.

'Tummy troubles survivor'

It is not immediately clear why Beckinsale was in the hospital. Last month, the actor shared now-deleted photos of herself wearing a shirt that read "tummy troubles survivor." That post had come just over a month after she had revealed that she was in the hospital.

Beckinsale was previously hospitalized in 2019 due to a ruptured ovarian cyst, leading her to miss that year's Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"Turns out a ruptured ovarian cyst really hurts, and morphine makes me cry," she posted on Instagram at the time, sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed. "So thankful to everyone who looked after me."

But in a recent Instagram comment, Beckinsale clarified her recent hospitalization was not due to a ruptured cyst. "I didn't have a ruptured cyst since 2019," she told a fan, according to Us Weekly and People.

She was also hospitalized in 2021 after hurting her back putting on a pair of leggings.

"I was in my hotel room putting on a pair leggings and then it felt sort of like a guitar string snapped and everything was horrific, I mean worse than having a baby bad," Beckinsale had said on "The Late Late Show with James Corden."

Contributing - Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.