Kate Beckinsale slams reporting of high IQ remarks

Kate Beckinsale has slammed media reporting of comments she made about how having a high IQ has harmed her career.

The Underworld star was pressed into revealing her genius-level 152 IQ during an interview on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show earlier this week, prompting headlines accusing her of indulging in a "humblebrag" - false modesty that badly disguises a boast.

In a post on Instagram on Friday, Kate claimed the response to her remarks proved her point about people twisting her comments to make her seem superior and arrogant - including pictures of headlines criticising her and others that backed up her point that women are often told to play dumb to avoid upsetting male contemporaries.

"I was asked multiple times in a recent interview if knew my IQ," she wrote. "I didn't answer the question the first few times but I did tell the truth that my mum had had me tested when I was young and that it was high."

After calling her mum to confirm the result of a test she did as a child during the interview, she revealed she had scored 152 and said others had told her she'd be "happier if you were 30 per cent less smart".

Stating that she appreciated being able to attend a good school and university, she wrote in her post: "When I said it has been a handicap in Hollywood it's PRECISELY because being female AND having an opinion often has to be quite carefully packaged so as not to be offensive or, as in this case, deliberately twisted into signifying ones perceived superiority or arrogance."

Slamming those behind the stories, the 48-year-old fired, "It's abundantly clear that this is still the case and these journalists who spun this into me 'bragging' is a part of the exact reason I say it was and is a handicap. As a woman truthfully answering a question about my own IQ, I have been the subject of a few articles trying to shame me for it. This is EXACTLY what I mean by a handicap."

And singling out The Cut website, she added: "My IQ is 152 and if that triggers you, @thecut, (despite your 2015 article on Salma Hayek stating the opposite) that's your problem. Also, pick a side. Also, IQ doesn't actually mean s**t. But stop performatively supporting women while pulling crummy s**t like this."