Keira Knightley shares huge cost of fame: ‘Brutal’

Keira Knightley became familiar with fame at a very young age. She was only 18 when she was the first Pirates of the Caribbean was released. Then came the “big price”.

During an interview with The Los Angeles Timesthe actress recalled being “chased by men” after her lead role and being told she deserved such treatment.

“It’s very brutal to have your privacy taken away in your teenage years, early 20s, and put under this scrutiny at a point when you’re still growing up,” she added.

“Having said that, I wouldn’t have the financial stability or the career I have now without this period,” the British actress recalls.

“I had a five-year spell between 17 and 21 and I’m not going to have that kind of success again. It absolutely set me up for life. Was there a cost? Yes, He did it at great cost,” he noted.

Kira also recalled the audience reaction which she said always shocked her. “I didn’t think it was okay at the time. I was very clear that it was absolutely shocking.”

“There was an amount of gas that had to be said by a bunch of men that ‘you wanted this.’ You know, ‘You deserve this.’ It was a very violent, misogynistic atmosphere,” the 39-year-old noted.

Knightley further elaborated, “They meant very specifically that I wanted to be pursued by men. Whether that was stalking because someone was mentally ill.”

She continued, “Or because people were making money off of it — I felt the same way. It was a violent moment to be a young woman in the public eye.”

“Social media has put it in a whole other context when you look at the damage that has been done to young women, to teenage girls. After all, that’s what fame is all about – being publicly shamed. A lot of teenage girls don’t survive it,” concluded Keira Knightley.