Keira Knightley has admitted that during her early days in the spotlight, she used to be afraid that if she got photographed drunk it could end her career.
The Pirates of the Carribean actress, 39, claims she had seen first-hand the damage that could be done by some of her peers who were snapped falling out of clubs and she was determined that she wasn’t going to be one of them.
Opening up in a new interview with The Sunday Times newspaper, she explained: “I 100 per cent recognised and saw people’s careers being shattered because they were photographed coming out of clubs.
“The money on my head at that point, of you’d got a picture of me drunk, it was so huge. I wasn’t going to give the [paparazzi] the satisfaction of taking that away, so I was unbelievably straight.”
In a strange twist of fate, the Love Actually actress ended up meeting her husband James Righton on a night out in London in 2011 on a rare occasion when she decided to throw caution to the wind.
Any further temptations were short-lived as the couple wed in 2013 and are now proud parents to daughters Edie, eight, and Delilah, four.
She added: “It was a really good time. It couldn’t have continued much beyond then, partly because I got pregnant but also, healthwise, I don’t think it would have been good. But I think periods of hedonism are very important.”
In the same interview, Knightley - who was recently seen in the Jilly Cooper TV adaptation of Rivals on streamer Disney+ alongside Emily Atack, David Tennant and Danny Dyer - also recalled the “public shaming” she felt amid claims she had an eating disorder.
Knightley told the publication that she dealt with constant speculation about her slender frame, which she said was unfounded, and insisted that she “was eating”.
Explaining that back in the early 200s, mental health wasn’t as openly discussed as it is now, she said she found the comments hurtful and that they caused her “trauma”.
