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Kate Beckinsale Says She Was Body Shamed By Michael Bay During Making Of 'Pearl Harbor'

"I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blond."
Madelyn Chung
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Kate Beckinsale is opening up about how she was criticized for her appearance by director Michael Bay during the filming of "Pearl Harbor" in 2001.

On Friday's episode of "The Graham Norton Show," the 42-year-old English actress revealed she "didn't fit the type of actress" the 51-year-old director met before.

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Kate Beckinsale attends the Christian Dior spring/summer 2017 cruise collection at Blenheim Palace on May 31, 2016 in Woodstock, England.

"I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren't bigger than my head and I wasn't blond," the mother-of-one said.

She continued, "I'd just had my daughter and had lost weight, but was told that if I got the part, I'd have to work out. And I just didn't understand why a 1940s nurse would do that."

And the insults didn't stop there — according to Kate, they continued during the press tour of the film.

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Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay at the photocall for "Pearl Harbor" in Paris, France, June 2001.

"And then, when we were promoting the film, Michael was asked why he had chosen Ben [Affleck] and Josh [Hartnett], and he said, 'I have worked with Ben before and I love him, and Josh is so manly and a wonderful actor'. Then when he was asked about me, he'd say, 'Kate wasn't so attractive that she would alienate the female audience'.

"He kept saying it everywhere we went, and we went to a lot of places."

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Producer Michael Bay attends the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows" world premiere at Madison Square Garden on May 22, 2016 in New York City.

Beckinsale isn't the first female actress to speak out against the famous producer, however. Back in 2009, former "Transformers" star, Megan Fox, compared the American filmmaker to Hilter in an interview with Wonderland U.K.

"He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," she told the glossy. "So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all."

Fox, 30, later called Bay "lovely" and "loveable" in a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly.

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