Kate Beckinsale is addressing speculation that she has undergone plastic surgery following her recent months-long hospital stay.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend, the model explained that she’s been “accused” of going under the knife several times over the past few decades, Page Six reports.
“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, admitted, sharing two separate clips of herself taken about 20 years apart.
“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 actress continued.
Beckinsale said that she’s always met by critics online who write, “My God, you’re unrecognisable” or “Oh my God, you don’t even look like yourself anymore.”
“It happens constantly and it’s usually women that are doing it,” she added. “Obviously I have aged, everybody ages; I’m not too concerned about ageing-because I found my father dead at the age of 5.”
The UK native went on to share that she’s spent her teenage years and 20s “crippled with severe anxiety and panic attacks,” believing she was going to die of a heart attack like her late father as she often found herself in emergency rooms.
“The fact that one of the major things I am bullied about is an assumption that I can’t handle the idea of getting older is so deeply ironic when my all-consuming terror was that I never thought I’d even see the end of my 20s,” she continued.
Comparing the two videos, Beckinsale explained the one from her younger days was taken when she lived in the UK and “was paler.”
“I used to pluck the sh*t out of my eyebrows … I had a fuller face as most of us do in our late teens and 20s. Makeup techniques were matte, not nearly so glossy,” she said.
The second video showed the Vacancy star at the King’s Trust 2024 Global Gala last week as she appeared refreshed following her hospital stay.
Beckinsale admitted she didn’t believe her post would stop the haters but hoped the critics could at least learn another lesson.
“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,” she concluded. “Please stop now.”
Fans and fellow celebrities took to the comments section to applaud Beckinsale for her vulnerability while also clapping back at the bullies.
“Sadly some people are mean and jealous as you are so gorgeous! Bullying is horrid and these people are deeply insecure. You are a wonderful, kind and thoughtful human xx,” one person wrote.
“You are a queen a legend and an icon and people are jealous because most people in their teens don’t look as good in the dresses you wear at 50. That’s it,” another wrote.
Beckinsale’s decision to speak out comes weeks after she was released from the hospital following a mystery illness.
She first documented herself in the hospital on March 11 as she cryptically posted on social media about the ones who have loved and supported her while honouring her mum, Judy Loe, for UK’s Mother’s Day.
The Van Helsing star frequently shared snaps of her stay alongside friends and her pomeranian, Myf, despite not cluing fans in on her condition.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Beckinsale had quietly deleted all of her photos from her hospital stay the week of April 10.
She hinted at her condition at one point by wearing a shirt that read, “Tummy troubles survivor,” while recovering back at home.
The since-deleted snap was captioned with a flexed bicep emoji. Reps for Beckinsale have not responded to Page Six’s requests for comment.
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission