Elizabeth Swann has spoken.
Keira Knightley has shared that the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, which helped propel her career, were also the reason she was “taken down publicly.”
The “Atonement” actress, 39, discussed how the Disney franchise positively and negatively impacted her life during a recent interview with the Times.
“It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time,” Knightley said, referring to the “Pirates” movies.
“I was seen as s–t because of them, and yet, because they did so well, I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for,” she continued.
Knightley has received two Oscar nominations over the course of her career. The British star was nominated for Best Actress in 2005 for her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in director Joe Wright’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” and then for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for playing Joan Clarke in the WWII drama “The Imitation Game,” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.
“They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of, and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly,” she added.
“So they’re a very confused place in my head.”
Knightley starred alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, which were released in 2003, 2006 and 2007. She was only 18 when the first movie hit theaters.
Due to her experience, she has no plans of acting in a film franchise ever again.
“The hours are insane. It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming,” she explained.
Being at the center of such mega-hits at such a young age also took a toll on Knightley’s mental health. In 2018, she opened up about suffering a mental breakdown and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder when she was 22.
“In that classic trauma way I don’t remember it,” she shared. “There’s been a complete delete, and then some things will come up, and I’ll suddenly have a very bodily memory of it because, ultimately, it’s public shaming, isn’t it? It’s obviously part of my psyche, given how young I was when it happened. I’ve been made around it.”
Much of the public shaming she faced focused on her weight. She was often accused in the media of battling an eating disorder.
“I knew I wasn’t. I knew I was eating,” she explained.
“I remember viscerally one of the Olsen twins had anorexia, and she went into a clinic,” Knightley added, referring to Mary-Kate Olsen, who sought treatment at a rehab clinic for an eating disorder in 2004 after the former child star and fashion designer graduated high school.
“I remember being asked about it on a press tour, like it was a joke. She was meant to be shamed for seeking help for anorexia,” Knightley continued. “I remember sitting there just being like, ‘Wow, this is wild.’ Can you imagine?…That made me really emotional. That’s not even about me, it’s about her. I still can’t bear it.”
The star believed the media was looking for any opportunity to cast her as a star in distress.
“I 100% recognized and saw people’s careers being shattered because they were photographed coming out of clubs,” she recalled. “The money on my head at that point, if you’d got a picture of me drunk, was so huge. I wasn’t going to give the [paparazzi] the satisfaction of taking that away, so I was unbelievably straight.”
Far from franchise-land, today Knightley chooses her roles carefully, in part influenced by being a mother of two young girls.
“I keep being offered things about children dying or about mothers dying. Can’t do it,” she admitted. “I’ve been really surprised in the past few years about what I’ve said no to. I’ve wanted it to be more pure entertainment and maybe that’s because I’ve needed that.”
