Keira Knightley likens acting to ‘prostitution’ in treatment of women
She’s one of the highest paid actors in the world, but Keira Knightley has likened her career to “prostitution” in its treatment of women.
Stellar
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You’ve been an internationally recognised movie star for nearly two decades.
Has it been tough to cope with finding out what other people’s perceptions of you are on such a large scale?
What’s nice about being in my mid-30s is that I can safely say I don’t care. It’s brilliant. When you have kids, you’re so tired and you’re so focused on that… a lot of the other peripheral stuff just goes, and that’s really nice. You just don’t have time or energy.
I think it probably bothered me a lot when I was in my late teens, early 20s. [That’s when] it’s all about that angst; that panic of other people not liking you.
What was it like for you in 2003 when ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl’ became a gigantic box-office hit and you became a household name?
I did feel it very, very intensely. It wasn’t nice and it was very difficult. And I think if I was at that level of fame now I would be equally stressed out with the whole thing. And it would be very difficult.
Particularly with children. I wouldn’t like to do that at all. But I think it’s much nicer being older. I hope I’m much more comfortable in my own skin.
Speaking of your two daughters, Edie is five and Delilah is one. Have they made you less selfish?
Yeah, and I think that process is interesting. It’s a really hard journey to becoming less selfish. It’s not an easy lesson, is it?
You took Edie with you to an anti-Brexit march last year. Is pushing for political change a big thing for you?
Yes, obviously. You think about the world that you’re bringing children into, and you look at the problems and maybe you see the problems really clearly. You think, “Oh my God, how am I going to protect my kids from that?”
But equally I want it for myself. I’ve always been really interested in women’s issues, from being about 11 or 12 and understanding that girls weren’t meant to play football [despite my] really liking football. So I think it’s always been there in me.
Did Edie enjoy the march?
It was a lovely march. She really enjoyed it. So that’s good. I’d really like to take her on another one. She [was only] four and a bit small. But she’s growing all the time. She will be there on one of them when she’s a bit taller.
Speaking of protests, your new movie ‘Misbehaviour’ deals with the real-life ones that took place around the 1970 Miss World beauty pageant. How did you relate to those women?
Well, I read the script and I naturally totally agreed with the second-wave feminists [protesting] and yet I’ve made most of my money as a model [for Chanel]. I go on red carpets where you’re given marks out of 10 and you have cameras up and down your body. I think that’s the complexity of being a woman in the modern age.
Still the number-one career in the world – the only one – where a woman can earn more than a man is modelling. Or prostitution. And that says everything it needs to say to young women.
The way you look is more important than what you have to say or what you think. And that’s the world we still live in today.
So making this movie didn’t make you reconsider your profession?
I’m super happy with the money I’ve earned, the lifestyle I have because of that and the experiences I’ve had. It’s given me amazing opportunities. That’s why I think this film is really interesting. It tells those two sides.
It says this is f*cking horrible, I’m totally against this and this objectification is awful, and yet it will give me opportunity. I suddenly become visible in a world where I’m invisible, and that has merit and that has value, and I could have a better life afterwards. It’s what we’re all still grappling with.
When it comes to climate change, have you changed things in your everyday life?
Yeah, we have. We’ve done that mostly plant-based diet. We recycle. We have an electric car. But there has to be massive governmental change. We’ve done the small things. That’s easy.
But [until this year] we were still flying, we were hypocrites – I flew for work all the time. But we were consciously trying not to fly when we went on holiday and things like that. We were trying to change that. I’m not trying to say that I’m a climate activist, but I’m a citizen who’s hearing it and going, “F*cking hell! We’ve got to do something.”
Misbehaviour is in cinemas from November 26.
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