Keira Knightley, a two-time Academy Award nominee, recently opened up about the challenges she faced early in her career. Known for her breakout role as Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and her performance in Bend It Like Beckham, Knightley’s career soared after starring in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Portraying Elizabeth Swann at just 17 years old, Knightley became a household name through the franchise, appearing in its sequels Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, and Dead Men Tell No Tales. Despite the immense success, the actress revealed the experience was far from easy.
In a 2016 interview with Variety, Knightley described her time on the set as “traumatic.” She said, “I found it pretty horrific. I’m not an extrovert, so I found that level of scrutiny and that level of fame really hard. It was an age where you are becoming, you haven’t become, and you need to make mistakes. It’s a very precarious age, particularly for women. You’re in some ways still a child. It was traumatic, but it set up the rest of my career.”
The pressures of early fame had significant effects on Knightley’s mental health. She admitted in 2008 to undergoing hypnotherapy to avoid panic attacks on the BAFTA red carpet. By 22, she had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with PTSD. “I did have a mental breakdown at 22, so I did take a year off there and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of all of that stuff. I went deep into therapy and all of that,” Knightley shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite the struggles, Knightley has grown to appreciate her younger self’s drive and determination. “I was never good enough. I was utterly single-minded. I was so ambitious. I was so driven… but it does have a cost,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2023.
Today, Knightley feels fortunate. Speaking to Variety, she said, “I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense. I can deal with it now, and that’s great. But at the time, it was not so great, and took many years of therapy to figure it out.”
