Kate Beckinsale.
(Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)Kate Beckinsale has marked the one-year anniversary of her stepfather’s death with a heartfelt and emotional post, detailing what it was like to watch him and her father die.
The actress shared a photo of her late stepfather, Roy Batterseavia her Instagram account on Friday, January 10. In the image, Roy is seen wearing a new shirt that reads: “The best parter in the world. That is, father” and is smiling while holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
“Finding my father’s dead body alone in the middle of the night at the age of five shaped my whole life. “Watching my beloved stepfather die one year ago today will haunt me forever,” Beckinsale, 51, wrote in the lengthy tribute. “It seems terribly careless that I managed to be present for both deaths and could not prevent either, the second time trying with everything I had. It wasn’t enough.”
of The black canary the actress reflected on her grief and sense of loss surrounding the death of Battersy, who died in Los Angeles in January 2024 after “a short illness”.
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Max Mara Kate Beckinsale is mourning the death of her stepfather, British director Roy Battersby. “I have no words yet. Thank you @katebeckinsale_slovakia2 for doing this beautiful thing,” Beckinsale, 50, captioned an Instagram video of Battersby taken by a fan account on Monday, January 15. “I fought for you with everything (…)
“In the process of losing my beloved Roy I lost my family, friendships, at times my health and all the money I had because of the American health care system’s aversion to the uninsured. I would do it again. There is no doubt. I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed terribly,” she wrote
Beckinsale went on to explain that she is relying on what she can to “comfort” herself, telling herself that Battersy had prepared for the end of his life and was “at peace with it”.
“It feels like a lie I’m telling myself to try to feel better, though. Maybe, unfortunately, I’m not educated enough to sell myself my sense of loss, guilt and failure,” she admitted.
The one-year anniversary of Battersy’s death was a hard pill to swallow, according to Beckinsale.
MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images UPDATE: 1/19/24 at 12:45pm ET A day after Beckinsale shared her frustrations with BAFTA for honoring her late stepfather, the awards show has decided to tribute to him at a later ceremony. “We were very sorry to hear of the recent death of Roy Battersby – he was a popular man (…)
“It’s a difficult day to talk about our new and precious tragedy, but since I couldn’t save him, I’ll be damned if I don’t honor him in some way,” she continued. “He taught me how to be brave. He taught me that it doesn’t matter if people don’t like you as long as you’re doing the right thing, he lost everything fighting for justice for the unions, for the Palestinians in the 70s, living with them in the refugee camps in Lebanon for several years making his 1977 documentary The Palestinian, fighting for miners who lose everything in strikes.
She concluded, “I’m so lucky to have been raised by someone who uncompromisingly knew what was right and lived it. And he loved me. Thank you for being my father. I miss him so much.”
