Kate Beckinsale travels with a pantomime horse costume.
The 42-year-old actress is currently doing the rounds promoting her new movie Love & Friendship, and appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night (11May16).
While such press tours can be tiring and sometimes slightly depressing, Kate told the chat show host she has a novel way to deal with such times.
"I own a pantomime horse costume," Kate giggled. "I do tend to travel with it just in case of a low moment or I feel a bit depressed or you get some bad news or something like that. Generally, get the horse on and you just cheer up immediately."
Stephen shared a video clip of Kate as the rear of the horse, dancing around her house. When it comes to donning the ensemble, Kate admitted there are "strict rules" as to who goes in what end.
"The tallest person is at the back - there are rules for a horse costume. I mean, strict rules, otherwise it makes a very wonky horse," she deadpanned.
Kate also revealed that the costume is usually at the very top of her packing list - unless she's just jetting away for a weekend. In that case, she trusts herself "to remain happy for two days".
"But if it's a long shoot somewhere in eastern Europe I think, 'Well, there may be a bleak weekend where I'm feeling a bit low in spirit and I might want to have a bit of a canter around the hotel'," she laughed.
Stephen appeared to be unsure whether or not to take Kate seriously, but continued to question her about some of her other roles, such as that of vampire Selene in the Underworld film series. The part saw Kate sport a skintight leather catsuit, which fans still remember fondly.
"I think that the thing is that those trousers just kind of stick in people's minds," she said. "But I've done loads of movies and only a few of them I've been in that sort of trouser, but people remember them."