Keira Knightley recently spoke candidly about the impact of her Pirates of the Caribbean roles on her life, telling how the films propelled her to international stardom and financial success but also presented her with several challenges. The actress spoke of being followed and even stalked by fans during her early twenties, along with some other negative side effects of gaining fame while working alongside Depp.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Knightley discussed the difficulties of having her privacy stripped away at such a formative age. “It’s very brutal to have your privacy taken away in your teenage years and early twenties, and to be put under that scrutiny at a point when you are still growing,” she stated. She nevertheless recognized the function that this period played in setting a path for her career: “I wouldn’t have the financial stability or the career that I do now without that period. It set me up for life, but it came at a big cost.”
Knightley received mainstream success with the dual releases of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Love Actually when she was 18, but her role as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates franchise also subjected her to some deeply invasive scrutiny. She recalled the way people treated her in public, saying, “I didn’t think it was OK at the time. There was an amount of gaslighting, being told by men that ‘you wanted this.’ It was a very violent, misogynistic atmosphere.”
Knightley also worried for the young women of today, stating that the upsurge of social media has increased the challenges that young women face. “Social media has put that in a whole other context, with the damage done to young women and teenage girls. Ultimately, that’s what fame is — it’s being publicly shamed. A lot of teenage girls don’t survive that,” she said.
Speaking candidly as she reflects on her journey, Knightley highlights the dark underbelly of fame and the ongoing struggles women face in the public eye.
