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Keira Knightley has reflected on the scrutiny she faced during her early days in the spotlight.
The 39-year-old actor opened up about previously being criticized by the press during an interview with The times, published on November 23. She noted that during the beginning of her career, she faced constant speculation that she had an eating disorder.
While she said she knew she wasn't dealing with an eating disorder, as she “was eating,” the scrutiny over her appearance was still extremely painful.
“In that classic form of trauma I don't remember it,” he recalled to the publication. “There's been a complete erasure, and then some things will come up and suddenly I'll have a very bodily memory of it because ultimately it's a public disgrace, isn't it? It's obviously part of my psyche, given how young I was when it happened. “They have deceived me.”
Knightley explained that in the early 2000s, mental health was not talked about as openly as it is now. She also recalled the immense criticism celebrities received at the time, referring to how Mary-Kate Olsen was mocked after she entered rehab for her eating disorder in 2004.
“I remember viscerally that one of the Olsen twins had anorexia and went to a clinic,” the Pride and Prejudice star said. “I remember being asked about it on a press tour, like it was a joke. I was destined to be shamed for seeking help for anorexia. “I remember sitting there and saying, 'Wow, this is crazy.'”
“Can you imagine?” he added. “That made me very excited. It's not even about me, it's about her. “I still can’t stand it.”
However, she noted that when she was in her twenties she was criticized by the press and had a wonderful support system. “The incredibly lucky thing was that I come from an incredibly loving family and I always had really nice boyfriends. I had lovely boyfriends,” Knightley explained.
In October 2018, the actress revealed for the first time that she suffered a “mental breakdown” at the age of 22, shortly after finding global fame following roles in Bend it like Beckham, pirates of the caribbeanand love in reality.
“I took a year off and was diagnosed with PTSD because of all that,” he said of the pressures of his early success. “I felt like I didn't really exist and that I was this strange creature with a strange face that people seemed to respond to in a pretty extreme way, and I couldn't understand any of it.”
In March 2023, she opened up about how she rose to fame at age 17 and how she struggled with the expectations placed on her.
“I had a great entry into adult life, an extreme landing because of the experience of fame at a very young age,” she told Harper's Bazaar UK. “There's a funny place where women have to sit in public, and I've never felt comfortable with that. “It was a big shock.”
She felt like she was “being judged for what” she was doing, specifically when she was in Pirates of the Caribbean.
“She was the object of everyone's lust,” Knightley explained. “It's not that she doesn't have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting to go from being very tomboyish to being projected as the complete opposite. I felt very limited. I felt very stuck. So the later roles were about trying to get out of that.”
