Kate Beckinsale recounts 'uneasy' hotel encounter at 17 with Harvey Weinstein in Instagram post

Kate Beckinsale has become the latest Hollywood actress to go public with a claim Harvey Weinstein behaved in a sexually inappropriate way towards her.

The British star, 44, described an "uneasy" encounter with the US movie mogul at a hotel, when she was 17, in a post on her Instagram page.

It comes after a string of high-profile female stars spoke out about alleged sexual assaults by the movie mogul.

Like many of the other women's allegations, Beckinsale claimed Weinstein wanted to hold a meeting with her in his hotel room.

"He opened the door in his bathrobe," she wrote. "I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him."

Kate Beckinsale, left, pictured with Harvey Weinstein and Penelope Cruz in 2009. Credit: AP

She also wrote he offered her alcohol, but feeling "uneasy" she left, "announcing I had school in the morning".

The actress, best known for her starring role in 2001's Pearl Harbor, also claimed "a few years later (Weinstein) asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realised he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not."

Beckinsale went on to write: "I would like to applaud the women who have come forward, and to pledge that we can from this create a new paradigm where producers, managers,executives and assistants and everyone who has in the past shrugged and said 'well, that's just Harvey /Mr X/insert name here' will realise that we in numbers can affect real change....

"Let's stop allowing our young women to be sexual cannon fodder, and let's remember that Harvey is an emblem of a system that is sick, and that we have work to do."

Harvey Weinstein has vehemently denied allegations of rape. Credit: AP

Beckinsale's posting came as British and US police confirmed they are investigating separate allegations of sexual assault involving Weinstein.

The New York Police Department is examining a claim from 2004 while the Metropolitan Police are investigating a claim from the 1980s.

After the first allegations of sexual harassment emerged, Weinstein issued an apology to the women he had worked with, but stopped short of directly addressing the allegations.

While he has denied many of the allegations against him, Weinstein has issued a vehement denial over three allegations of rape which emerged on Tuesday.