Keira Knightley has revealed she felt “harassed by men” and faced “rape talk” as a teenager after starring in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Oscar nominee, now 39, characterized Hollywood culture in the 2000s as “a very violent and misogynistic atmosphere” in which she was blamed for the aggressive and intrusive interest men showed in her.
Knightley rose to fame with roles in the first of the Pirates of the Caribbean series and Love Actually when she was 17 years old.
But the British star has acknowledged that her extraordinary success came at a “great cost” and that it was “very brutal to have your privacy taken away from you in your teens, when you were in your twenties.”
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about the male attention she received in her early years of stardom, she said: “My jaw dropped at the time. I didn’t think it was right. It was very clear to me that it was absolutely shocking.
“There was a lot of deception when a group of men told them, ‘You wanted this.'” It was rape language. You know, ‘This is what you deserve.’ “It was a very violent and misogynistic atmosphere.”
She added: ‘They meant very specifically that she wanted to be harassed by men. Whether it was bullying because someone was mentally ill or because people made money from it, it seemed the same to me. It was a brutal time to be a young woman in the public eye.
Knightley also commented on the “slightly stalkerish aspect” of her story in 2003 Christmas favorite Love Actually, where Andrew Lincoln’s character shows up at her door with cue cards to profess his love.
The Oscar nominee, now 39, characterized Hollywood culture in the 2000s as “a very violent and misogynistic atmosphere.”
Knightley rose to fame with roles in the first series of Pirates of the Caribbean and Love Actually at age 17.
Knightley hasn’t appeared in a live-action television role for more than two decades, but now stars in Netflix’s British spy thriller series Black Doves.
He explained that while filming the scene, director Richard Curtis told him he was looking at Lincoln “like he was creepy” and recalled how he had to “redo it to fix my face so it wouldn’t look creepy.”
He added: “I mean, there was an insecurity factor at the time, right? Plus, I knew I was 17. It seems like it was only a few years ago that everyone realized I was 17.
Knightley hasn’t appeared in a live-action TV role for more than two decades, but she now stars in Netflix’s British spy thriller series Black Doves alongside Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire and Paddington’s Ben Whishaw .
Speaking about the new role, he said: ‘My teenage self is loving this. Sometimes you have to listen to your teenage self and say, ‘This one’s for you.’ I think she would have thought this was great.’