Kate Beckinsale responds to backlash for taking daughter to Weinstein's house: 'I had no idea what was coming'
Kate Beckinsale was forced to defend herself after receiving social media backlash for sharing her story about disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.
Beckinsale had earlier shared a harrowing experience detailing Weinstein's abusive and offensive rant at her for wearing a white pantsuit and tie to his premiere after he had invited her and her then-infant daughter Lily over for a play date. When she reached his home, he had screamed at her and called her a 'stupid f**king C**T' for not wearing a tight dress on the red carpet.
At the time, Weinstein was not a known rapist and Beckinsale only went to his house as he was her boss and admitted that he could be "funny, creative, and generous". However, she received a lot of unwarranted social media backlash as to why she went at all, why she did not fight back and why she did not tell people what happened, and more importantly, why she took her child.
One person had commented, "Honestly I don't know why anyone would allow themselves to be put in one of those situations. Just leave," to which Beckinsale responded, "I did. It still happened." Another person asked, "Why did you show up is my question?" Beckinsale shared, "He was my boss. He had not so far been abusive, nor had I seen any evidence on the one movie I had worked on with him. He couched it as a playdate for our kids."
"I had no idea it wasn't that or that I had done anything that could be perceived as wrong," she continued. However, some fans and followers did support her and shared, "You did nothing wrong. Harvey Weinstein was the malefactor here. People trying to blame you have no idea what they are talking about at best."
Beckinsale commented back, "Oh I know. I think she thinks I gaily took my child to a known rapist's house. I had no idea what was coming partly because the element of shock and surprise is one of the things he got off on."
Beckinsale had earlier shared two pictures from the October 2001 premiere of her film 'Serendipity' showing herself and Weinstein on the red carpet.
She had captioned the image, "These photos were taken at the premiere of 'Serendipity' on October 5, 2001. We all refused to go because holding a premiere mere weeks after 9/11 with the city still smoking felt like the most insensitive, tone deaf, disrespectful idea possible. Harvey insisted. We flew into New York and somehow got through it."