Kate Beckinsale receives 'unsettling' gift of pet rabbit left on doorstep

Kate Beckinsale was shocked to open her front door and find she had been sent a pet rabbit by an anonymous admirer.

The 47-year-old Underworld actress – who lives in Los Angeles – shared a video on her Instagram stories showing her confusion and discomfort at finding an adult bunny in a cage had been delivered to her front door, along with a basket of rabbit food and rose petals.

A note revealed the rabbit’s name to be Marvel, after the comic book franchise.

Beckinsale told the male companion filming her: “There was more than this outside! Why have we got an adult rabbit? What the f**k is going on? Marvel might bite me!”

Animal-lover Beckinsale already owns a menagerie of cats and dogs and later revealed to her 4.3 million followers she has had to rehome the rabbit.

Beckinsale criticised the sender for leaving the animal outside on a “boiling hot day where it could have been left outside to roast to death”.

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She added: “We have found a loving home for Marvel without cats but it was quite a shock and I think pretty unsettling for Marvel too.

“Appreciate so much the good wishes but please please don’t send anyone an animal as a present or a joke or really at all.”

The British actress has two Persian cats – Clive, who is very old and a cancer survivor, and Willow, two – who often feature on her Instagram account, as well as two lapdogs named Ingrid and Myf.

Beckinsale, who has lived in Hollywood for over a decade, is currently dating 23-year-old singer Goody Grace, believed to be the male off-camera voice in the video.

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The daughter of the late Porridge star Richard Beckinsale split from 26-year-old comedian Pete Davidson in April 2019 after a three-month romance.

Prior to that she dated another stand-up comic Matt Rife, 24, for about a year in 2017.

Beckinsale was previously married to Underworld director Len Wiseman from 2004 to 2015. Before that she was in a relationship with Good Omens star Michael Sheen for eight years. They split in 2003 but have remained friends and have a 20-year-old daughter Lily.