Kate Beckinsale’s drastic social media shutdown has baffled the internet

Kate Beckinsale is one of the most talked-about women in the world. And from her critically-acclaimed roles to the time she was once mistaken for Kate Middleton, the 51-year-old never fails to make headlines.

This week, it was Beckinsale's social media activity that made news, as the Hollywood actress deleted all the posts from her Instagram platform, and changed her profile picture to a plain black circle.

The major social media shutdown has baffled Beckinsale's 5.6 million followers. And while it is not known why such drastic measures have been taken, it comes after Beckinsale's words about the "insidious" bullying she has received on social media.

This, she explained in a 2024 statement, is particularly related to her appearance, with the "constant" and "tiresome" comments by online trolls debating whether or not she has undergone plastic surgery.

"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 posted to Instagram last year. "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.

"I don't actually do any of those things - I've even gone to the trouble of having a plastic surgeon categorically state that I don't and haven't, and still, every time there's a chorus of my God, you're unrecognisable. Oh my God PLASTIC, oh my God, you don't even look like yourself anymore, it happens constantly and it's usually women that are doing it."

"I'm posting this knowing full well that it will have absolutely no effect," Beckinsale's post later concluded. "It isn't going to stop. But 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. Please stop now."

We will continue to update this story.