Kate Beckinsale’s Chiswick Homecoming

Film star goes back to her roots for daughter's sake

Following the break up of her long term relationship with fellow actor Michael Sheen, Kate Beckinsale has announced her desire to return to live in Chiswick.

The 30 year old daughter of actors Richard Beckinsale and Judy Loe has expressed her concerns that her daughter, Lily, is becoming too Americanised. She revealed "Lily already says pants instead of trousers and elevator instead of lift. That's more than enough for me."

Kate has set her heart on Lily attending her old school, Godolphin and Latymer in Hammersmith "Education is so important but I also want Lily to get to know her grandmother better," she says. "It's important that she grows up in my culture.

Kate was only five when her father, Richard Beckinsale, died at the age of 31 from a fatal heart attack. In her acting career, she feels as though she was living the shadow of her father who starred in British comedy classics Porridge and Rising Damp. She claims that moving to America enabled her to develop as an actress.

In a recent interview she spoke for the first time about her unexpected break-up with Michael Sheen and her whirlwind romance and engagement to Hollywood director Len Wiseman whom she met on the set of her latest film, Underworld. She denied a rift with Sheen and insisted they will stay close, with the welfare of their four-year-old daughter Lily their prime concern. "Even though people might not want to believe it, Michael and I are still friends and he's still a big part of Lily's life and she couldn't have a better father," she says.

September 8, 2003

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