Kate Beckinsale Returns to Acting after 3-Year Sabbatical

Kate Beckinsale admits she found sex scenes with Colin Farrell "awkward".

The 38-year-old actress - who plays Colin's wife in forthcoming movie 'Total Recall' - says it was hard to act out intimacy with her director husband Len Wiseman looking on.

She said: "I think it was worse for Colin. It's awkward if you have to fondle the director's wife. Especially with Len saying, 'all right that's it, you're fired'."

But despite the tricky situation, the mother-of-one made great friends with Colin, who has two sons of his own - James, seven, and Henry, two.

She told Women's Health: "He's lovely. He's such a good actor, really professional and a brilliant dad. There's nothing bad you can say about Colin - and he's funny as well. I hate him!"

Kate also rates her 'Contraband' co-star Mark Wahlberg for his masculine ways, and admits she could have done with some of his brute force when she got groped at a concert.

She said: "He's very manly. And if someone squeezes your boobs at a Katy Perry concert - which is what happened to me in Toronto - I did wish Mark was there because he would have sorted it out."

Having just returned from a three-year hiatus, Kate explains that she wanted to spend some time with daughter Lily, 12, from her previous relationship with actor Michael Sheen.

She said: "I didn't plan on a sabbatical, there just wasn't anything I was dying to do and I have to really make the decision - is it worth me being away from my kid."

©Bang Showbiz