Kate Beckinsale has shared an emotional tribute to her late stepfather Roy Battersby on the second anniversary of his death.
The television director was hospitalised in December 2023 after suffering ‘a massive stroke’ while battling two forms of cancer, and sadly passed away a month later, aged 87.
Two years on and Kate, 52, explained how she was still struggling to cope with the loss, sharing how anniversary of his passing had caused her to become overwhelmed by feelings of ‘fatigue and sadness’.
Alongside a a slew of throwback photos of Roy, including with his wife and her late mother Judy Loe and her daughter Lily Sheen, the actress wrote how she was ‘still trying to outrun her grief’.
She penned: ‘I can tell I’m still futilely trying to outrun my grief because I have found it so difficult to go through my phone to find photographs of you on the second anniversary of your not being here.
‘What I know only too well about anniversary grief is that if you are not on top of it or you’re distracted by other griefs, you may not even know the date in the calendar, but your body knows it, and fatigue and sadness overwhelms you and then you remember.’
Kate Beckinsale has shared an emotional tribute to her late stepfather Roy Battersby on the second anniversary of his death
The television director was hospitalised in December 2023 after suffering ‘a massive stroke’ while battling two forms of cancer, and sadly passed away a month later, aged 87 (seen with Kate’s daughter Lily as a baby)
Two years on and Kate, 52, explained how she was still struggling to cope with the loss, sharing how anniversary of his passing had caused her to become overwhelmed by feelings of ‘fatigue and sadness’
She concluded her tribute to her beloved stepfather: ‘I miss you so very much. I am so glad you’re not seeing what is happening in the world which you absolutely predicted decades ago.
‘I love you, Roy. I hated this first year of not buying you snazzy old man outfits for Christmas xx Sleep tight. Roy Battersby April 20 1936- January 10 2024.
Kate’s father, Porridge star Richard Beckinsale, died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 31, when she was just five years old.
Her actress mother Judy then found love with Roy, and Kate moved in with him at the age of nine, being brought up by the director alongside his four sons and daughter.
Roy enjoyed his successful career as a director, working on major British on-screen hits including Inspector Morse and Cracker. His most recent directorial credit was for a 2006 episode of A Touch Of Frost.
A year and a half after his passing, Kate was left devastated by the loss of mum Judy in July 2025, who died aged 78 following a long battle with cancer.
She took to Instagram at the time to share that her mother had died in her arms on July 15 after ‘immeasurable suffering’ and said she was ‘paralysed’ with grief.
Last week, she broke down in tears as she hit back at body shaming trolls over her dramatic weight-loss, explaining it was a result of the loss of both her mum and her stepfather causing ‘my body to close down’.
Alongside a a slew of throwback photos of Roy, including with his wife and her late mother Judy Loe and her daughter Lily Sheen, the actress wrote how she was ‘still trying to outrun her grief’
Her actress mother Judy then found love with Roy, and Kate moved in with him at the age of nine, being brought up by the director alongside his four sons and daughter
A year and a half after his passing, Kate was left devastated by the loss of mum Judy in July 2025, who died aged 78 following a long battle with cancer
Last week, she broke down in tears as she hit back at body shaming trolls over her dramatic weight-loss, explaining it was a result of the loss of both her mum and her stepfather causing ‘my body to close down’
Taking to her Instagram to reflect on her ‘really, really hard year’, Kate looked visibly emotional as she wiped away her tears.
She said: ‘2025 was a really really hard year. It was also the last year that my incredible mum was on this planet. So I feel really torn about letting go of it as well.
‘But I just wanted to address the fact that I lost my stepfather a while ago, a couple years ago. And I already watched my father die because my mum was in hospital and it was just me at the age of five.
‘I watched my 31-year-old father die of a huge heart attack, and then I watched my stepfather die and I watched my mother degenerate and die.’
Kate explained how the grief had affected her appetite, saying: ‘Such an incredible amount of suffering and what I will say, it doesn’t make you feel very hungry.
‘And I don’t know if there’s some kind of survivor guilt because it started after my stepdad died and it’s not like anorexia where you’re starving and it’s a kind of willpower thing. It’s like your body has closed down. I think it’s shock and trauma.
She concluded: ‘I think watching, especially alone the people you love the most dearly suffer and have horrific and sometimes violent and awful deaths, really makes you not hungry.
