"I still find it hard to bear." Keira Knightley opens up about body shaming for being too skinny
Keira Knightley has spoken out in an interview with The Times about the bullying she faced several years ago for being too thin. The Pirates of the Caribbean star was previously suspected of having an eating disorder.
"I still can't get over it," Knightley admitted. She admitted it was so hard for her that she tried to block most of the memories from her mind. "It was just my psyche working because I was so young when it happened. But it hasn't gone unnoticed."
The actress also commented on rumors about eating disorders: "I knew I didn't have an eating disorder."
Keira Knightley's figure became the talk of the town after she appeared on the red carpet of the second part of the film "Pirates of the Caribbean". The media wrote about protruding collarbones, ribs and stated that in real life Keira has no breasts at all. Later, she admitted to the press that during filming, makeup artists "drew in" the "missing" curves for the role of Elizabeth.
At the same time, the actress recently admitted that after having children, she gave up the sexy outfits she wore at the beginning of her career. Kira, who often appeared in public in crop tops and skinny low-rise jeans in the 2000s, said that she recently saw teenage girls dressed in a similar style on the subway: "I thought: "Wait, I dressed like that? It was all about my stomach! But now I don't have such abs."
In the interview, Keira Knightley also recalled how her colleague, actress Mary-Kate Olsen, went to a clinic to treat anorexia. At that time, the Olsen sisters were hounded in the press.
"I remember being asked about it on the press tour. Like it was a joke. They were shaming her for seeking help for her anorexia," Knightley recalled, adding that she found the coverage "wild" at the time. "I remember sitting there thinking, 'Oh my God, this is wild,'" she explained, adding that she was deeply affected, despite the reports not being about her.
Knightley has previously addressed rumors that she has an eating disorder, citing doctors as a genetic issue. And in 2018, she revealed that she had a nervous breakdown at the age of 22 due to fame and intense media coverage. The celebrity admitted that she was not prepared for the fame and pressure that befell her at 17. At that time, doctors diagnosed the star with post-traumatic stress disorder. She had to seek help from a psychotherapist.