Kate Beckinsale is done dumbing herself down.
The Oxford-educated actress, 48, has hit back after she was mocked for claiming her “very high IQ” may have “handicapped” her Hollywood career.
Beckinsale — who speaks fluent Russian— revealed in an interview with Howard Stern earlier this week that she has an IQ of 152 — a “highly gifted” score that places her in the top 1% of the population.
When asked whether her intellect had been an advantage, she replied: “Every single doctor, every single person I’ve ever come across has said, ‘You’d be so much happier if you were 30 percent less smart.’ It’s no good to me, though. It’s really not helpful to me in my career. I just think it might have been a handicap actually.”
The British beauty was the subject of scorn on social media and was ridiculed by some online publications, including the Cut, who published an article with the sarcastic headline “Sounds Hard To Be This Hot and Smart.”
But Beckinsale is blasting back, refusing to say sorry for her smarts.
In an Instagram post on Friday morning, Beckinsale wrote: “Are we really jumping on women for answering a question truthfully about their intelligence or education? Are we really still requiring women to dumb themselves down in order not to offend?”
She continued: “I went to an all girls school where I never had to worry about raising my hand making me possibly unfeminine-and I went to a university in which intellectual debate was not only encouraged, but the entire point of attending. I am very aware how lucky I am to have had those experiences.”
The star went on to claim that the reaction to her comments was evidence as to how her intellect had been a burden in Hollywood.
“When I said it has been a handicap in Hollywood it’s PRECISELY because being female AND having an opinion often has to be quite carefully packaged so as not to be offensive or, as in this case, deliberately twisted into signifying ones perceived superiority or arrogance.”
Beckinsale went on to directly address the Cut, saying: “IQ doesn’t actually mean s – – t. But stop perfomatively supporting women while pulling crummy s – – t like this.”
Beckinsale’s initial comments made the media rounds on Thursday, and even prompted reaction from another Hollywood actor.
“13 Reasons Why” star Ross Butler — who studied biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University before dropping out to pursue acting — said his education has been nothing but an advantage in Tinseltown.
“Being well versed and knowing a lot about things kind of helps you as an actor, and widens your perspective,” he told TMZ.