Kate Beckinsale, who recently received the Best Actress Award for Love & Friendship at the Evening Standard British Film Awards (pictures from the event here) is now the cover of the Evening Standard Magazine. Here’s the cover and the article:
Kate Beckinsale to spend Christmas in LA with her ex-husband Michael Sheen and girlfriend Sarah Silverman
Beckinsale has hired a snow machine and is turning the air-con to chilly to beat the LA heatKate Beckinsale has lived in sunny California for years — but when it comes to Christmas, only British weather will do.
The actress says she struggles to feel festive in Los Angeles so on the big day she turns up the air-conditioning and even hires a snow machine.
Beckinsale, 43, reveals her unusual Christmas Day plans, which also include hanging out with her ex Michael Sheen and his girlfriend, in an interview with today’s ES Magazine.
The Chiswick-born actress, who has a 17-year-old daughter, Lily, from her relationship with Welsh actor Sheen, said: “I turn up the air-conditioning and hire a snow machine so we can feel cold and see snow. It’s difficult for a British person to make it feel like Christmas when it’s warm outside.”
Guests over the festive season would include “various waifs and strays and floating Jews, all these Americans wearing Selfridges cracker hats and not really understanding it,” she added.
Beckinsale met Sheen through work in 1995 and the couple had Lily in 1999. They split four years later but remain close — which the actress admitted is confusing for some. “It’s so normal for us,” she said. “We split up ages ago. We have been not together far longer than we were ever together. But I really love him and like him and we make each other roar with laughter.”
Beckinsale, who recently split from director Len Wiseman, said she felt “very lucky” that she gets on with Sheen’s girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman. “I really love his girlfriend as well and we are lucky we both get on, and Lily gets on great with her — having as many strong females in your teenage daughter’s life as possible is a good thing,” said Beckinsale.
The star — daughter of the late actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe — won best actress at this month’s Evening Standard British Film Awards for her role as Lady Susan in Love & Friendship.
She began her career on stage and is planning her return to the West End, saying she might be spending more time in Britain for work.
Over the past two decades she has opted for movie roles so she could spend more time with her daughter, saying: “My mum did quite a lot of theatre when I was little and I did find that tough.” But now Lily, who is considering a career in acting, “doesn’t give a f*** whether I am in the house or not”.
On whether she had objections to her daughter becoming an actress, Beckinsale said: “That would be like sitting there with a glass of wine and saying you can’t have a drink. I can see why she wants to do it.
“I don’t love the downside of it for my baby. But it’s not like she hasn’t seen her parents having a real experience of what it’s like.”
