Fans of Kate Beckinsale will know that she recently deleted all of the posts on her Instagram account due to the fact that she had been receiving a barage of comments about her appearance. She then addressed the issue while being open about what she’s been experiencing.
“The Serendipity star, 53, shared dozens of posts on her Instagram Stories on Saturday, Aug. 8, highlighting negative comments she’s received about her body after the 2025 death of her mother, Judy Loe, and three years after revealing she had mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS),” according to People.
Now, Beckinsale has shared a pair of honest posts about PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, which “is a mental health condition that’s caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event — either being part of it or witnessing it,” the Mayo Clinic explains while noting that symptoms can include everything from flashbacks and “uncontrollable thoughts about the event,” to nightmares and severe anxiety.
It’s also something that Beckinsale knows quite a bit about and has now addressed while speaking to her social media followers.
Kate Noted that Countless People Silently Deal with PTSD
Beckinsale took to Instagram on Wednesday, September 2, to post a video of herself in bed and looking directly at the camera while sharing a message with her followers.
“I think what people find incredibly hard to understand about non-military PTSD, and I don’t exclude military PTSD, but I think that’s perhaps slightly better understood, is that those people have seen or experienced levels of horror, terror, violence that they don’t just dream about incessantly so that there’s no rest,” Beckinsale said in the recording. “They see it when they blink. Anytime they close their eyes for a second, they see it.”
Noting that after some people experience trauma, “their nervous system is permanently altered as a result,” many also “become incredibly good at masking it,” which means “that they get no grace whatsoever.” Indeed, Beckinsale explained that despite managing to act normal, these same people can be struggling without anyone knowing what they’re going through, which means they may not show them any compassion.
Beckinsale also brought up the “very traumatic experience” she endured “as a little child,” before saying, “There are hundreds of thousands of people walking around with PTSD, who are the bravest people ever and will never get recognized for it.”
Kate Tells Others to Be Kind, ‘You Could be the Difference to Someone’
Beckinsale followed her first Instagram post with a second video that continued her message regarding those who are dealing with PTSD without others knowing.
Along with again discussing what those who experience PTSD go through, the star also talked about what those around them can do if they want to help, saying, “Try to become a person who can provide … safety. You could be the difference to someone.”
“And anyone who is silently suffering from PTSD, which is obviously invisible, and getting through their days, and looking after their kids, and looking after their families, and looking out for their friends, and remembering birthdays, and sending birthday cakes, and celebrating people, and celebrating life — watch over that person,” she went on to say. “They might not be okay. And you could make a real difference by being kind.”
