KATHE THE FIGHTEER

We’re at a restaurant in Brentwood, California (pre-lockdown, of course), and Kate Beckinsale is politely explaining that in her more than 20 years of being famous, she’s found writers often get her wrong. Because of her acting roles (which include thriller TV series The Widow and vampire movie franchise Underworld), people assume she spends a lot of time walking around with a solemn expression, or angled optimally on a red carpet. In fact, she says, she hates posing and finds photoshoots mortifying. During them, she pictures her four stepbrothers rolling their eyes. “Which is healthy,” she says. “I think once you get comfortable with that, you’ve left the building.”

Instagram, she notes, has been helpful in communicating to people what she’s really like. “I’m not a social media person, but it’s nice to have this little