Over the weekend, Kate Beckinsale reached her breaking point.
For years — but especially in recent months — the beloved actress has been making troubling posts.
Some were about her alarming weight loss. Others were about PTSD. And then there were the deaths of her parents.
Over the weekend, she announced that she’s giving up, telling haters “bye” and that they win.
Kate Beckinsale’s latest posts were bleak and felt final
On Sunday, September 20, Kate Beckinsale took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of a rainbow as viewed from a street.
“Congratulations,” her caption began.
“You won,” Beckinsale announced, without explaining which person she was addressing.
“I give up,” her message continued.
That last part is of the greatest concern. Especially because it was not her only worrisome post at that time.
Also on Sunday, Beckinsale conducted a total purge of her Instagram page.
Instead of her past photos and videos, she shared a single image.
On a black background, the white three-letter caption reads: “bye.”
Beckinsale deactivated comments on that post. She — or someone — later deleted the post, leaving the entire page blank.
She has not, as of Monday morning, added or updated anything past that point.
She has been going through so much
Just weeks before this disappearance from social media, Kate Beckinsale spoke about struggles with PTSD.
That video is no longer up, but she made many accurate points about how trauma feels inescapable for someone with this condition.
(PTSD often stems from experiences with domestic abuse, especially as a child, but can also emerge from military service, sexual assault, surviving a harrowing accident, or even witnessing something horrible. With PTSD, the safeguards that your mind builds up to keep you safe turn your existence into a prison where you no longer feel safe.)
Beckinsale spoke about lack of sleep, how the condition is “invisible,” and she called for people to be “kinder and gentler” to others. All true.
She did not specify the cause. She lost two parents within the space of a year and also described a horrifying Harvey Weinstein experience, but that does not mean that we know all of her trauma.
Right now, fans should not be panicking.
Despite the alarming messages and Beckinsale’s health battles — both mental and physical, there is not currently any concrete reason to believe that she did more than flounce from Instagram.
Yes, she did it dramatically.
But coming back to delete the “bye” post gives the impression that she thought better of it, realizing that some might take her farewell as extending beyond social media.
We hope that Beckinsale is well, or as well as she can be. It is also a shame that she was facing such hostility on a platform for sharing photos.
