Keira Knightley Says She Was 'Publicly' Shamed About Her Eating Habits
Keira Knightley revealed that she endured troubling criticism about her body and eating habits when she was a teenager.
Speaking to 'The Sunday Times', Knightley tackled the years of tabloid gossip about her weight head-on.
"I knew I was eating," she said, addressing the eating disorder rumors that followed her early career.
"In that classic trauma way, I don't remember it. There's been a complete delete," she added, describing how her brain has dealt with the constant public scrutiny of her body.
The actress didn't hold back about the damage done, calling it straight-up "public shaming" and admitting it's now "obviously part of my psyche, given how young I was when it happened."
Knightley, who's previously shared that she had a mental breakdown at 22 and was diagnosed with PTSD, brought up a particularly rough moment from her past. She remembered being asked about Mary-Kate Olsen during a press tour, right after the then-18-year-old star had gone into treatment for anorexia in 2004.
"I remember viscerally... being asked about it on a press tour, like it was a joke," Knightley said. "She was meant to be shamed for seeking help for anorexia. That made me really emotional."
Like many young actresses in the early 2000s, Knightley faced comments about her body at an early age.
The actress is turning 40 in March, but hasn't let the shaming in her past keep her from doing what she wants to do, nor has she let the treatment of women aging in Hollywood change her mind.
"I feel like it's just opened up another well of how we can shame people," she said.
"I'm going to do what I do and I'm going to feel fine about it."
