Kate Beckinsale almost had different name
Kate Beckinsale's father tried to change her name at the last minute.
The 'Underworld' actress has shared a telegram sent to West Middlesex University Hospital after she was born on 26 July, 1973, in which her late dad Richard Beckinsale - who died of a heart attack aged just 31 in 1979 - told his then-partner Judy Loe the moniker they had picked out "wouldn't do" and he wanted to call her Gypsy instead.
Kate shared a photo of the telegram on Instagram, which read: "Katie will not to decided on Gypsy much love Richard"
She captioned the post: “My mum has been organizing and found this – telegram from my dad to the hospital when I was born.
“They’d been trying to decide between two names, picked Kate and then he must have had buyer’s remorse. The compromise in the end was my middle name being Romany…(sic)"
And it seems the 48-year-old star understood her father's misgivings because she revealed she and former Michael Sheen were planning a very different name for their daughter Lily Mo, now 23, all the way through her pregnancy.
She added: “I chose Ruby Tirian Sheen as my daughter’s name the whole pregnancy and then when she was born she looked more like a Lily Mo…
"And then a brief panic right before registering when I wanted to call her Ethel. Funny old life #katiewilllnotdo.(sic)"
Kate previously admitted her father's shock death means she isn't concerned about the ageing process because she's aware that not everyone lives to see old age.
She has said: “I’ve been so aware of the possibility people can drop dead at any time … People started trying to worry me about turning 40 when I was turning 33. If you overload it like that, you’re going to make the person not give a s***.”
