Beckinsale tanks tough Hollywood for slim shape

Movie beauty Kate Beckinsale is glad Hollywood movie moguls forced her to lose weight - as she likes her new shape.

The British actress, 32, admits image-obsessed Los Angeles life was tough on her, but at least the pressure to shed pounds stopped her from looking like a "cauliflower".

She says: "Before I came to LA I'd never been to the gym in my life. People who went to the gym were frightening zealots in their mid-30s.

"But when I started Pearl Harbor they made me promise to work out a lot more - they were quite bothered.

"I'd already lost the three and a half stone I'd gained being pregnant and they wanted me to lose a further stone and a half.

"I hated it but it went, and I found it quite liberating because every time I thought about swimming, my mind didn't cut to a cauliflower in a swimsuit."