Kate Beckinsale shares heartbreaking update on PTSD: ‘Actual hell'

Kate Beckinsale is speaking out about PTSD and grief – and asking for more compassion.

In an Instagram video, uploaded on Wednesday, the actress, 53, explained what it is like to live with trauma after losing both her mom and stepfather in the last two and a half years.

The Underworld star said people who “have seen or experienced levels of horror, terror, violence” can’t escape it, but deserve to be seen as “heroes.”

“A lot of those people become incredibly good at masking it,” Beckinsale added. “And it’s sad because they become so good that they get no grace whatsoever.”

She explained that even while living day to day, those with PTSD often “don’t sleep for more than an hour because when they do, it’s full of nightmares.”

“Anything — smells, sounds, thoughts, feelings — can trigger them into a place that is actually like hell,” she shared. Because the struggle is “invisible,” she urged people to be “kinder and gentler” to others.

“It really is true that when you haven’t walked a mile in someone’s shoes — however fancy you think the shoes are — you have absolutely no idea what they might be carrying, masking, dealing with day and night.”

She called PTSD sufferers “the loneliest people” who “continue to try and put one foot in front of the other.”

In a second video for National Grief Awareness Day, Beckinsale warned against telling people “how strong they are,” because that strength may be “misinterpreted as not needing gentleness.”

“There are people who are silently caregiving, watching their loved ones deteriorate in horrifying and frightening ways that they’re not medically qualified to deal with,” she elucidated.

“And they do it on their own. And it can break them.” She closed by asking fans to “try to become a person who can provide safety” to those struggling, saying “you could be the difference for someone.”

The Canary Black star has lost her mother, Judy Loe, to stage 4 cancer in July 2025, and her stepfather, Roy Battersby, in January 2024.