Fame at 22 drove me to breakdown, says Keira
TV and Radio Reporter KEIRA Knightley has revealed she had a mental breakdown at 22 because she struggled to cope with her sudden rise to fame.
The actress, 33, took a yearlong break from acting after star appearances in Love Actually and Bend It Like Beckham – but was still ground down by the constant media attention.
She said: ‘It’s amazing looking back at it from the outside – you’re like, “Woah, that was hit after hit after hit!” But, from the inside, all you’re hearing is the criticism, really.
‘I literally felt like I was worthless,’ she told a Hollywood Reporter podcast. ‘I felt pretty much like actually I didn’t exist and I was this weird creature with this weird face that people seemed to respond to in quite an extreme way.’
Miss Knightley said leaving the house created ‘a sense of battle’ as she was constantly followed by paparazzi.
She added: ‘If you [female stars] weren’t breaking down in front of them, then it was worth their while to make you break
‘I felt like I was worthless’
down in front of them … so suddenly there was a level of violence, it felt, in the air. That is not a thing that anybody would react to well.
‘I did have a mental breakdown at 22, so I did take a year off there and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of all of that.’
The actress had not left the house for three months before the 2008 BAFTA awards, where she was nominated for leading actress for Atonement, and had to have hypnotherapy so she ‘could stand on the red carpet… and not have a panic attack’.
Her comments came as she accused the Duchess of Cambridge of hiding the ‘ bloody, screaming’ reality of giving birth by posing for photos hours after having Princess Charlotte.
In her contribution to Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies), a collection of feminist essays, the star has written a graphic account of giving birth to daughter Edie, three. In it she criticises Kate for appearing in heels and make-up shortly after Charlotte was born.
Less than ten hours after the birth, Kate was seen in a bespoke Jenny Packham buttercup print dress and nude court shoes outside St Mary’s Hospital in London with Prince William and their second child.
Describing watching the royal on TV, Miss Knightley, whose daughter was born the day before, wrote: ‘She was out of hospital… hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see.
‘This stuff is easy. It happens every day. What’s the big deal? So does death, you s***heads, but you don’t have to pretend that’s easy.’
Kate, 36, suffered hyperemesis gravidarum – severe morning sickness – while pregnant with all three of her children.
Referring to her own experience of early motherhood, Miss Knightley, who is married to musician James Righton, 35, wrote: ‘I don’t wash for a month. Can’t get dressed. The hormones rage. I’m buffeted by silent storms more terrible than the battleground.’