Kate Beckinsale flashed her bare buttocks at a department store to help deal with the death of her cat Clive

Revealing a cheeky video of the moment she pressed her backside against a window, she wrote on Instagram: "The day after Clive died and I received some of the most horrific news I've ever received that next morning...

"Sometimes there's nothing for it but for your friend to show up as hard as possible and spend the evening making prank calls and mooning Harvey Nichols because sometimes when the bottom falls out of your world the only response after crying till you're sick is your own bottom

"@nina_kate I'll never forget you jumping into the fire with me x (sic)"

Kate recently admitted she has just been "trying to survive" aftera year from hell.

As well as the death of her stepdad Roy Battersby in January and her beloved cat Clive last year, she spent six weeks in hospital after suffering a torn esophagus, suffered a flare-up from mast cell disease and had to face "reactivated PTSD" stemming from the death of her dad Richard Beckinsale when she was a child.

In May, a troll commented on the actress' weight in pictures from a trailer on a movie set, prompting her to respond: "I nursed my [step-dad] to his death early this year. My mum also has stuff going on. I am adjusting to watching two fathers die, one when I was 5, one in January of this year."

She added that she "experienced a severe flare of mast cell disease ... [caused] by stress, shock and grief ... That's what I am prepared to disclose that has contributed to some weight loss.

"What you think of my appearance and how I should look, independently of any circumstances in my life and my family's is not important.

"I am trying to survive what feel like unbearable losses, reactivated PTSD from discovering my very young father's almost dead body as a very young child alone in the night, and working to support the family I have left."