Kate Beckinsale has opened up about the "difficulties" which led to her dramatic weight loss.

The 50-year-old actress has been struggling with grief over the death of her stepfather Roy Battersby in January from "a massive stroke" and the stress of her mother Judy Loe's stage four cancer diagnosis.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper's Richard Eden at the Summer Gala by Gala One in St Tropez: "I just think people go through things in their life and we all face difficulties and I've been quite transparent about mine.

"I've just been mainly dealing with my mother and she's doing OK."

Kate previously spoke about her struggles after fans hit out at her dramatic weight loss, which was caused by a stress-related tear in her oesophagus.

She wrote on Instagram: "Actually, I watched my stepfather die quite shockingly, my mother has stage 4 cancer and I lost a lot of weight from stress and grief...

"Quite quickly and then I was in hospital for six weeks because the grief had burned a hole in my oesophagus, which made me vomit copious amounts of blood, and I found eating very hard...

"And I just worked very very hard on a movie that was actually quite triggering because it also involved the theme of the death of my father so I'm not really concerned about what you think about my a**.

"Maybe you should worry about your own f****** a**. I suggest shoving something up it, like a large pineapple or a brick."

Kate had been caring for her mother and late stepfather after flying them over from the UK to stay with her at her home in Los Angeles.