The 76-year-old actor is close with her niece Linda but revealed her relative tries to keep her away from social media in case she comes across a bad review of herself.
"I'm not allowed to be on Instagram because my niece Linda says I'll read five million great ones and one bad one, and I'll fixate on the bad," Bates told E! News.
The Misery star has had a glittering career in which she's won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes but enjoyed something of a resurgence when she was cast in the reboot of Matlock.
But shortly after taking on the role of the famed TV detective, Kathy claimed that it would be her last on-screen role and had described it as her "last dance", although this was not exactly what she meant.
"I was about to say sayonara before Matlock came along, because it's very hard as you get older to find roles that you can spread your wings, but roles that people see you in," she said.Â
"And so I was really having second thoughts about whether to say goodbye."
The initial comment immediately made fans think Kathy was headed for retirement, but she later clarified that was not the case.
"What I meant was, I had one foot out the door until I read the script for Matlock," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"And then I read Matlock and I said, 'Ooooooookay, close the door. We're gonna do some more.' I want it to run for years. It's that great."
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