Starring in one of the most monumental films ever made might seem like a source of immense joy for an actor, but for Keira Knightley, it was quite the opposite experience.
The actress openly revealed that she underwent ‘many years of therapy’ following her role in the iconic film. Knightley, only 17 at the time, played Elizabeth Swann in the initial installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Curse of the Black Pearl, catapulting her into newfound fame.
While the instant success of Pirates of the Caribbean elevated her to unprecedented levels of stardom and established her as a household name in Hollywood, Knightley confessed that being part of the popular film franchise left her feeling ‘caged.’
Discussing the overwhelming fame she faced as a teenager, Knightley shared with Variety in a 2016 interview: “I found it pretty horrific. I’m not an extrovert, so I found that level of scrutiny and that level of fame really hard. It was an age where you are becoming, you haven’t become, and you need to make mistakes. It’s a very precarious age, particularly for women. You’re in some ways still a child. It was traumatic, but it set up the rest of my career.”
Thinking about her own daughter, Knightley expressed a strong desire that her child doesn’t pursue acting. She remarked, “I hope she’s going to be an environmental lawyer or something spectacular, but I’m going to be the kind of parent where whatever interest she has, I’m going to be supportive.”
At the time, Knightley’s self-critical nature added to her struggles during the early stages of her career. In a more recent interview with the same publication, she continued, “I was never good enough. I was utterly single-minded. I was so ambitious. I was so driven. I was always trying to get better and better and improve, which is an exhausting way to live your life. Exhausting. I am in awe of my 22-year-old self because I’d like a bit more of her back. And it’s only by not being like that any longer that I realize how extraordinary it was. But it does have a cost.”
Nevertheless, the Pirates of the Caribbean star emphasized that she wouldn’t change anything about her journey. “I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense. I can deal with it now, and that’s great. But at the time, it was not so great, and took many years of therapy to figure it out.”