Michael Bay body-shamed Kate Beckinsale, asked her to lose weight

Today in Hollywood sexism, Kate Beckinsale edition.

The objectively stunning actress shared a dismaying anecdote during her appearance on the Graham Norton Show last Friday, about how director Michael Bay body-shamed the then-new mom while they were filming their 2001 blockbuster Pearl Harbor.

“I don't think I fit the type of actress Michael Bay had met before,” Beckinsale said. “I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren't bigger than my head and I wasn't blonde.”

The actress also got real about how her looks played into Bay's casting of her alongside Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett in Pearl Harbor.

“When we were promoting the film, Michael was asked why he had chosen Ben and Josh, and he said, 'I have worked with Ben before and I love him, and Josh is so manly and a wonderful actor,'" she said.

“Then when he was asked about me, he'd say, ‘Kate wasn't so attractive that she would alienate the female audience.’”

That's absolutely brutal -- and true, with Vanity Fair unearthing a 2001 interview with Bay that contains the following garbage fire of a quote.

Q: What made you choose Kate Beckinsale?

A: I didn't want someone who was too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone's too pretty. I'm not saying Kate's not pretty. When you look at Titanic, Kate Winslet is pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful. That makes it work better for women. Our Kate is very funny, could hang with the guys. She's not so neurotic about everything, like some actresses. She was solid, and I think the three of them had some really nice chemistry.

As Beckinsale validly pointed out on Graham Norton, it's not like her Pearl Harbor role required extended shots of the actress in swimwear. “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," she said. "And I just didn't understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.”

Here's the "not overwhelmingly beautiful" Beckinsale looking stunning in 2001.