CAT-ASTROPHIC! Kate Beckinsale's home was besieged by catfished men who thought she was their girlfriend
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kate Beckinsale has spoken out about her ordeal at the hands of catfishers who duped men into turning up at her home address. In a message to her 5.5 million Instagram followers on April 18, the 49-year-old actress stated that during lockdown, the situation became quite bad.
So bad that the 'Pearl Harbour' actress was forced to relocate because a wave of different guys turned up at her home, assuming they were in a relationship. The Hollywood beauty stated that the avalanche of men left her and then-boyfriend Goody Grace, 25, terrified, while the catfish victims were "humiliated" when they discovered the truth, with some even being imprisoned.
RELATED ARTICLES
Kate Beckinsale slammed for getting Botox, hits back at troll with 'hop off my d**k'
Scammers were so keen to deceive their victims that they built phony social media profiles for Kate's pet cat Clive, who has become an internet star thanks to his appearance on Kate's Instagram account. She posted a video spoof by comedian Jimmy Wyngarde, in which he played a misguided guy certain he had gotten into a cyber connection with Kate, to emphasize her point that she would never personally seek out a stranger on social media.
The great reveal
Kate captioned the amusing clip: "Reposting this because a) @wyngarde_the_great (whom I don’t personally know) made it and it’s funny and really well done and b) can this please be the definitive answer to anyone who thinks I am messaging them or talking to them on google hangouts or asking them for money or sending pictures of my passport or driving license - or that my personal assistant is messaging them on my behalf or anything in that vein - it’s absolutely NOT me and you are being horribly taken advantage of and please report and block anyone doing this to you."
Her post continued, "During lockdown several men had been catfished to the degree that they flew to Los Angeles from out of state, had been given my home address and arrived on my doorstep late at night (on different nights, over a couple of week period) thinking we were in some sort of relationship."
"My boyfriend at the time and I were completely freaked out, the catfished guys were humiliated and some of them arrested, the scammers weren’t caught and I ended up ultimately having to move house. So long story short, if you think I’m messaging you, it’s not me. Thanks again to @wyngarde_the_great, @jacobcharmon and @guy_pearson0 for putting it so perfectly xxx."
Love in the time of a 'cat-astrophe'
Kate was dating Canadian musician Goody at the time of the deluge of catfishers. After nine months of dating and just three months after openly declaring their love for one another, the pair parted ways in October 2020.
Their relationship sparked speculation at the time since Goody is just two years older than her daughter, Lily, 22, whom she shares with her ex-partner of eight years, Michael Sheen. According to an unknown source, the divorce was "not a huge issue for Kate," and that "having him around throughout the lockdown was fantastic for Kate." According to the source, Goody "is young and has other priorities than her," and Kate "completely gets it." Kate was previously married to filmmaker Len Wiseman.