Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Michael Bay is defending himself against hurtful comments he reportedly made about Kate Beckinsale’s looks while they were shooting the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, writing the controversy off as the work of a “tabloid-esque reporter.”
On Friday’s edition of The Graham Norton Show, the British actress noted, “I don’t think I fit the type of actress Michael Bay had met before,” explaining, “I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde.”
“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,” she added.
Next to a photo of a Pearl Harbor poster featuring Beckinsale posted on his personal website on Wednesday, Bay writes, “This poster has hung proudly over my desk for 15 years. Yesterday I read in the press that I don’t think Kate Beckinsale is ‘a stunning beauty,’ huh? And they went on to suggest that Kate and I don’t like each other?”
“Well, totally untrue,” he continues. “Kate and I are friendly. She is a fantastic actress, very funny, witty lady, sassy, speaks her mind, and I truly respect her.”
Bay claims the the whole thing is a misunderstanding brought on by a “tabloid-esque reporter” who turned Beckinsale’s story, “into some scandalous confrontation, when it was nothing of the sort.”
“Spoke to Kate today and she felt she told a funny story,” adds Bay.
Regarding a suggestion he made that Beckinsale get a personal trainer, Bay writes, “Note to reporters: 95% of leads in movies have trainers and drink green juice!”
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