Keira Knightly is doing the rounds to promote her role in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. The movie looks way too Bourne-y to be something I’m interested in watching, but I dig that Keira has stepped outside her comfort zone for a popcorn flick. Of course it’s easy to forget that she appeared in three Pirates of the Caribbean movies too, so she has some familiarity with blockbuster movies. Most people still think of Keira as the girl in the corset though. She’s often the best part of otherwise overwrought period movies.
*cough Anna Karenina *
Keira plays the tough girlfriend in this latest movie. I don’t know how much ass kicking she does, but she plays a doctor who discovers that her man, Jack Ryan (a spiffed-up Chris Pine), leads a secret life. She follows him to Moscow where he’s chasing baddies around. The critics will dislike Jack Ryan, but the film is expected to make a ton of cash, which is good news for Keira. I like Keira a lot these days. I used to think she was snobbish, but she’s let her hair down in her newer interviews. It’s super cool that she keeps repurposing her wedding dress, and her thoughts on feminism and motherhood began a grand conversation. Keira just sat down with the Express to discuss those long-standing rumors of anorexia:
Her latest career curve: “When I finished doing Anna Karenina, I realised I’d been playing characters who died, or to whom something horrendous happens, for about the last five years. That’s why I fancied doing something fun.”
On Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: “It’s piece of pure entertainment — a really great, old-school, Hollywood thriller. I’ve never done one of those before but it’s a genre I’ve always liked, as long as you combine action with proper storytelling. And this is a great script — a real page-turner. All it needed was a proper storyteller to direct it. Ken [Branagh] basically said, ‘Oh, go on, do it!’ And I went, ‘All right, then.’ I was interested in the idea of what happens to a relationship when there is a secret — when there is something that can’t be discussed. That’s something that can tear two people apart even though they are completely in love.”
Fending off rumors of anorexia: “I’ve got a lot of experience with anorexia. My grandmother and my great-grandmother suffered from it and I had a lot of friends at school who suffered from it, so I don’t think it’s anything to be taken lightly.”
She doesn’t diet or exercise: “The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream, and I just hate going to the gym. The most exercise I get is turning on the TV.”
She grew up in the biz: “When I was little, we did manage to go on holidays, but there were periods when my parents were totally out of work and didn’t know if they could keep the house. So I’ve always known this is a very insecure profession. There was never anything else. I wanted to be a part of my parents’ world, even though I knew there are times when you’re unemployed, and if you have five years of working constantly that’s beyond lucky.”
[From The Express]
The way Keira talks about her family history of eating disorders makes me believe her when she denies having an eating disorder. She’s probably one of those lucky people who can get away with eating whatever she wants and not exercising. Keira has previously revealed how she loves baking and specializes in gluten-free goods. So maybe she’s a bit more health conscious than she lets on, but I don’t think she stresses over it.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
Yeah, right.
Just when I thought I liked her.
THIS. I love her, but just, Keira, no. NO.
Although, if anyone ih Hollywood could pass for naturally thin, she could.
I agree. She seems to be one of those people who is just naturally very very thin, Even in ‘Bend it like Beckham’ when she was still a teenager and by no means the fashion icon she was later to become, she was extremely skinny.
This, too. Beeyoch, please. I don’t have enough eye-rolls. “When I think about dieting, blar-de-blar”.
I have seen Keira Knightley in person. She is teeeeeeny tiny. Not short (she’s taller than me!), but she has the tiniest little bird bones I have ever seen. I think she’s just one of the lucky ones for whom diet/exercise isn’t a thing (at least until her metabolism shifts in her 30s).
I think that, yes, she has a naturally very slim body and that is down to genetics however there have been times when I have looked at her and thought she looked very unwell (mainly when she was dating Rupert Friend, they both looked gaunt and ill a lot of the time).
She might have the kind of frame where even if she loses a very small amount of weight, it looks much more severe than it is. One of my friends is like that–she can lose like two pounds and look ill, even though she’s fine.
I think she’s also more bottom-heavy, which we don’t see because the skirt/dress/pants are covering it up.
I was just going to say the same thing. She’s your typical small on top/larger on bottom (not to say that she is at all large) build. Her bone structure is incredibly petite, but if you do come across pictures of her where you can see her whole leg she’s not so small on the bottom but rather healthy looking. What would be really amazing though if talk of her weight could end in interviews considering she seems to be a sane, bright young woman who has interesting things to say in interviews as opposed to the regular boring claptrap.
Yes! I do agree that she is probably very skinny naturally, but carries most of her weight on her lower half (making her look even longer and slimmer). As for not working out, I don’t really believe that as the last time I saw bikini photos of her, you could see a well-defined 6-pack. She seems very down to earth, I just wish she would stop wearing those frumpy shapeless gowns (the above photo shows she’s getting back to the gorgeous gowns I usually fawn over)
It makes her want chips and ice cream but I doubt very much that that translates to allowing herself to have them. I think she is a naturally thin person but also that she’s incredibly disciplined about what she eats but doesn’t think of it as a diet just as run of the mill meal choices.
And that’s not uncommon for those mindsets to go hand-in-hand. I’m the same way. I’m naturally small built, but I also care about what I eat.
Didn’t the film already come out??
Yes the film came out three weeks ago and basically flopped. Kevin Hart’s movie, the lone survivor movie and I think Frozen all beat it. It’s going to have to make the money back overseas. Chris Pine is not getting a second franchise.
With the international box office, it’s around 100 millions, so at least it broke even.
Also, the Jack Ryan franchise is stuck in the Cold War… so the audiences might be over it.
Plus, Chris Pine suffers from leading man syndrome. And the leading man slot in his age category, is currently taken by Channing Tatum and Gosling (when he feels like it). This Means War flopped (and there you had 3 box office contenders), People like Us did the same. Unstoppable had Denzel Washington who delivers at the box office . As for Star Trek, there’s the franchise that puts people in the seats, not Pine or Quinto. With the exception of Simon Pegg, the regular cast is as bland as they come.
I ♥ her. The end.
I do, too, Eliza. She’s lovely.
I’ll admit, I have a hard time with keira’s conversations about her weight – not so much now, but during those Pirates years she really was skin and bones. She was just gaunt.
Cue the people talking about thin-shaming.
Oh please… In case of people we don’t never met outside of videos and still frames, all while not being doctors or dieticians, non-specialist opinions regarding body-mass, weight, anorexia, bulimia, food addictions, body-index, over-weight/ under-weight, ought to be regarded by most women as troll baiting and concern trolling.
People keep bringing up the pictures from the beach and from one of the POTC premieres, as evidence for her weight problems, but if you look at most of them, you’d see that she actually has quite a muscular frame, a pear shaped body, which wouldn’t be the case with anorexic females.
The problem with thin-shaming is not that one’s strictly criticizing Keira per se, it’s that girls and young women read these comments, and some are influenced by them. Not everybody is confident with their bodies and there’s an entire culture bludgeoning women into submission with the weight problem.
That’s why I find it damaging for women when other women turn on them.
P.S.: Not strictly referring to you, just the general attitude regarding Keira over time.
Of course you saw a lot of muscle, because she had so little body fat over it. It isn’t an indicator of how muscular she was. And it’s not just a couple of photos that made her look really thin, she WAS really thin. The entire Rupert Friend era she was alarmingly thin – which she’s not any more, by the way.
I know there are many women out there that are naturally thin, but if we want to talk about young girls’ self esteem and the images that are being projected at them as ‘beautiful’ and ‘ideal’ then I am far more worried about the fact that they’re constantly being exposed to a standard of beauty that isn’t healthy, and for the most part isn’t found in nature. Our most famous actresses and models are thinner than any generation before them – in fact many of those that found fame in the 70s and 80s (who we consider to be epic beauties) would be considered too big nowadays by fashion and beauty. And yet we pretend that this is a body type that’s found in nature? That these women who have access to a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals, every crazy crash diet, even surgical options, that they’re all just those few who are naturally really thin? Even after the countless stories told of ypung women who are told they’re too fat (at a size 4), of the crash diets, the diet pills, and of course the cocaine, or how about the thinnification of basically every single actress once she gets on the scene? THAT’S the image that I’m more worried about being sent.
Sure but it’s not about all these women or the culture in general, that’s an entire discussion altogether. Cuz to me it looks like Knightley’s been single outed by the court of public opinion for a bunch of photos in 2003. I mean people should really give it a break or at least bring some new arguments. That’s why I don’t buy this general concern trolling a la Daily Maily about young girls on crash diets cuz of Keira’s body type.
And if we are to take this argument to its natural conclusion, for people with severe cases of body issues there’s also mental problems attached. Cuz it’s not like there’s an epidemic of anorexics for the sake of being anorexics praying at the altar of Keira Knightley. These women are genuinely sick and that’s not simply just because of a diet fad.
And as a side note “this thinnification” might originate with Hollywood, but common peer pressure with a table spoon of malice, is equally if not more damaging, cuz it’s right next door or across from us at the supermarket. It’s easy to blame Hollywood which is hard to believe that will change in the next 10-15 years, when in some cases the problem”s with us. And I’m not talking about the victims, I’m talking about the “do-gooders” full of advices: “The oh so helpful – you should eat more/ eat less. Go Atkins – Dukan/ paleo/ insert blank – category”.
But let’s keep on blaming Keira, that will surely makes us all healthy/ save Hollywood from itself,
I like her. And I believe she is a naturally thin woman who at this point doesn’t “diet” and “work out.” I’m pretty sure she’s a runner, though. I run and don’t consider it exercise. I simply eat fairly healthy with some forays into the land of Doritos and crap food and I don’t consider it dieting.
This is key. If you change your mindset, you don’t have to lie. She runs because she likes it, and she probably eats very little most days, but thinks of it as a lifestyle rather than a diet. There, now she doesn’t diet or exercise. I wish I could force that mindset on myself, truly.
+ 1
I remember her talking years ago about struggling to put weight on. My husbands family has the same problem so as much as it annoys me since I have the opposite problem I know it can be real. I think she is one of the lucky ones and if you’ve seen her in a bikini you can see that she has a bigger bottom half than her top half a la Katie Holmes. He legs are not stick thin, I think she just built that way.
I know nothing about Keira and eating other than what’s written here, but I was as skinny and boobless as her until I had my kids. 5ft 8in and hovering around 105lbs. (Now I’m um… a bit less skinny but still pretty boobless!) I stuffed chocolate all day long, ate three meals a day on top, and did no exercise. So she’s not necessarily being economical with the truth.
So you are about 100 pounds at 5ft 8? That is very slim, but if you don’t do exercise maybe your muscle mass is very low and you don’t look as skinny as your weight would suggest. I don’t think I would guess Kiera was even as low as 100 and she’s about 5ft 7.
I was. With NO eating issues at all. I looked very skinny just like Keira, as I said. People often assumed I had a problem just by looking at me. I didn’t.
NOW I’m about 120lbs, still with no issues. Extra weight came post babies and has been steady regardless of diet and/or exercise for ten years.
Exactly, there are body types and body types. And even the body index is not always accurate, since it doesn’t take into consideration muscle mass in the case of performance athletes and so on and so forth.
Also if we’re referring to overweight women, it doesn’t need to be about binge eating (which btw, is an eating disease) or stuffing themselves with junk food as the fat shaming belief goes. It’s enough to inherit bad genetics, problems with the thyroid gland or a slow metabolism. And in a lot of cases, not even exercises can do the trick.
Or for the slim/ athletic types, it’s doesn’t have to be about dieting or starving oneself, sometimes just eating in moderation does the trick. Variation and moderation are basically the key, from my point of view.
I think – although on no grounds but instinct – that my metabolism changed with pregnancy. I didn’t put on much weight while pregnant (about 20lbs each time for a 9lb and 10lb baby) and lost what I did put on almost straight away both times. But in the year after my second son was born, an extra 15lbs slowly went on and never went away again. Yet my diet was much the same – only with less alcohol and less chocolate since I wasn’t a singleton without responsibilities any more.
I won’t say I didn’t feel a vague sense of relief to weigh a bit more. It’s much easier when people don’t worry that you’re a secret anorexic or bulimic when you’re not. I might be lazy with exercise and I might have been a drunken chocoholic when I was younger, but I never had any problems with food or body image and I always ate three square meals a day. I was just a skinny bint and that’s all there was to it!
The skinny and boobless thing! I was too until having my child. I may be back to skinny again (due to running after the child all the time) but so far the boobs have stayed. It’s definitely possible to look stick thin with no exercise and stuffing yourself every day. I actually tried this for about 7 years because I got sick of people telling me I looked ill. That experiment didn’t work, but exercising and eating more protein helped a bit. And quitting smoking. Doesn’t Keira smoke?
Kiara seems like a nice person but she’s a horrible actress. She makes Natalie Portman seem like Cate Blanchett. And that’s bad.
No truer words have ever been spoken! She is a terrible actress.
I won’t play doctor for anyone, much less someone I’ve never met, but the vast majority of people who do suffer from eating disorders don’t/aren’t capable of recognizing or acknowledging it and become masters at denial. So, there’s that…
Anyway, I used to be lukewarm or rather, not “get” Keira too until I saw her absolutely gorgeous and completely heartbreaking performance of Georgiana, Duchess of Deconshire in “The Duchess.” My GOD can that woman act! I fell in love with her based on her talent in the movie alone but after reading the biography it was based on, well, for me, Keira completely BECAME Georgiana as the woman (reportedly) was. Just wonderful ☺ I highly recommend checking out both ladies!
Really? I thought she was rather weak in Duchess, like the character she played overwhelmed her.
My favorite bits of Keira were in that Domino movie and of course P&P. But maybe I need to rewatch Duchess, there’s never too much of Ralph Fiennes in my life…
As for her weight, look at her legs, they are disproportionate to her upper body. People seem to look only at her boobs (or lack thereof) and overlook her rather massive legs. Of course this doesn’t change the fact that she is absolutely gorgeous and lovely.
@Yennefer: You should definitely read the book! The real Georgiana-according to her biography and hundreds of her preserved letters-was politically brilliant but also VERY fragile and prone to depression and incredible over-sensitivity in real life.
I think if you read it and then re-watch the film, there would be no question in your mind of Keira’s spot-on portrayal of her 🙂 (Or you could just watch again for the unbelievable costumes alone.) Also, yes: More Ralph!
Exactly. Some of us are just built that way, I’m exactly the same shape and proportion as her but several sizes larger – small boobs and top half, bigger hips and legs. It makes you look thinner than you really are!
I always say she was perfect as Ruth in Never Let Me Go.
PJ: that description of Georgiana is spot on for her descendant Diana, Princess of Wales and there is a passing resemblence too.
She was great in that film! I loved it. You should check out ‘Last Night’ – it’s an OK film, but I love her character in it, she was the best thing in it by far. I also loved her in Atonement.
I’m literally the only person I know who likes her, but I think she maintains a good balance between being visible and overexposed, which must be hard to do. The fact we all forget she was in two huge blockbusters (PIrates and Star Wars) says a lot.
Are interviewers EVER going to stop asking her about her body? She’s always been tiny–either it’s natural, or she has issues she struggles with, and either way, it’s nobody else’s business. I give her props for being so gracious about it and not just telling them to STFU. I’d be pretty pissed off about it by now if I was her.
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks” Hamlet, Bitch!
Yea right, she has been severely underweight for a long time. And she doesnt work out? So she must consume like 800 calories a day to stay that bone thin and if that isnt disordered eating then i dont know what is. Not buying it. I notice a lot of anorexic looking chicks play the “I eat junk food! I hate the gym!” card. Sorry, grown adult women dont get that thin from eating ice cream and sitting on the couch. you get that thin from poor nutrition and calorie restriction. no woman her age should be that thin, it looks very unhealthy. I believe she doesnt go to the gym, she probably does not have enough fuel in her tank aka calories to exercise.. Sit down Kiera
I do love her acting.
Yes, they do. Don’t be so judgemental, not everyone is the same as you. I am a grown up woman who can’t gain weight and believe me, I try. I eat over 2000 calories every day but I have a condition which messes up my metabolism. I used to weigh a little more when I was a child (and I had a hard time from other kids so I know both sides of the weight bullying) but then I grew up and stopped at 110 lbs. I can’t gain a single pound now. I gained some weight once, about four years ago while on steroids for my asthma and I loved the additional weight (or rather – additional swelling). It made me look 10 x better. I’m tired of hearing how skinny and sickly I look. PC stops most adult people from calling someone overweight fat but there is a general consent for bullying thin people and guess what – we have feelings too.
A family friend was told she wasn’t allowed to dance at a shindig her partner was singing at as she was ‘anorexic’ and it was horrible to look at. She’s been a professional dancer, and an incredibly skinny woman her whole life. Its not just her feelings but her earnings too. Some people are just horrible.
“rant in” Maybe you should sit down and stop telling people what to do. She’s 28, what exactly is the right weight at this age? And should we take into account – oh I dunno, height and other factors? Or should we all be the same body-size in one’s image. Does medium-rare sound good?
I’ve been really bored today so excuse me if I’m being too facetious. But she’s not preaching like Gwyneth or other actresses, about finding the fountain of youth in no gluten products/ water-based diets. If Keira’d start telling women what to eat to be like her or whatever, then sure, in that instance, she should be told to Sit Down. But in this interview she’s basically rehashing the same things she’s said for the better part of a decade. And if she’d been on any diet under 400 calories every day for over ten 10, she’d be paper thin if not worse.
It’s fine if you don’t like an actor, don’t like their movies, what they wear or whatever, but as I said above, Keira’s not gonna read this, but maybe some girls will and maybe they’ll be negatively affected by all this toxic talk of how unhealthy she looks. “rant out”
Im a naturally thin gal too. But i dont look like a skeleton like her. Her skin is stretched over her face. No fat! And she’s not a marathon runner or a tri athlete so how does she stay so bone thin? Sorry but I’m calling it like I see it. she is way too thin and it is not a good look. Obesity is not good and neither is being scary skinny. its unhealthy on different sides of the spectrum.
As to the girl with a health issue, obviously that effects your weight. And obviously some people also starve themselves skinny. I’d have a lot more respect for her if she admitted she is thin because she watches her weight. Thats fine but to pretend she is naturally that thin is such utter bs. Keira has never said she is skinny from some ailment, yet says she doesnt exercise and she eats junkfood. Thats aboslute bs from her just blowing smoke up the readers you know what. Want to talk about being an example of health and having a good body image? maybe start with some honesty. I hope young girls dont look at her and think something is wrong with them because they aren’t “naturally” thin like her. And what great example of health she is, boasting about never exercising and eating crap and being “naturally” thin. So unrealistic. At least Gynweth Paltrow is honest about her extreme diets, dedication to working out and food restrictions. I hate when chicks, who obviously heavily restrict their calorie intake to stay thin, pretend they are “naturally” thin. BS. You starve yourself skinny Keira, like 99% of hollywood, just admit it.
She is naturally thin. I don’t “know” it but….I am built like her. I got teased (and still DO) for being so skinny! I can eat anything and everything and not gain a pound! (I’m 46)…I even had a doctor ask me when I was in my 20’s, “do you think you’re fat?” Whaaaatttt!?? I still get looks and comments from people because I am so thin. I realize it’s much harder to be heavier and speculated about..but it’s really getting old hearing the jokes!! I cannot help it! I hate it! I want boobs and a butt! And I can’t afford to buy them!!! ( or I would!) *cries* / end rant
I’m shaped like a flat fridge. If I angle my hips, I can affect a curve maybe.
Well, it’s not like she needs to diet anyway. She’s always been thin so I don’t get why that is a problem.
Just for information, the anorexia quote is a direct quote from a press conference back in the Pirates days, many many years ago. It’s not new, just creative copy-pasting. It makes me wonder if I’ve seen the chips & chocolate quote before too, and whether she perhaps didn’t sit down to discuss her eating habits with Express at all.
Yes! I read both the anorexia and the ice-cream comment just yeaturday on her IMBd quotes. They are not new. I did they first time years ago. I was wondering why she is repeatig herself but it makes sense if her old quotes where just copy and pasted.
I wish celeb interviewers would make some kind of pact to not ask anybody, particularly actresses, anything about diet/exercise/eating habits/eating disorders. It’ll never happen, I know, but I think it would make everyone -both actresses and gossip readers -a lot happier.
I don’t really care about what she has to say about diets. I just appreciate her as an actress (especially Atonement, The Duchess , Never let me go or more recently the movie she did with Steve Carell).
I just saw on some other sites that she was rooting for Chiwetel Ejiofor for the Oscars.
She is quoted:
“I worked with Chiwetel and he is such a phenomenal actor. He is one of the actor`s actors. So I think it is wonderful that he is getting the recognition that he`s deserved for such a long time,” Knightley said in a statement.
I can’t hold anything against her after that.
Ya I don’t buy it and that movie already came out. Doesn’t look like it has done well. I like her though.
‘Cause the way to combat anorexia is to eat a lot of cookies and chips!
These actresses and celebrities are so full of it. If they ate like me for one day they would freak out and probably not eat for the next 6 months. And I don’t eat all that bad.
I think at times she has looked too skinny, but generally speaking, while she is very slim, she looks like she comes by it naturally. I see no signs of anorexia on her whatsoever. Her elbows aren’t knobby looking, her face is angular due to bone structure, but not gaunt…her hair looks healthy, skin looks healthy. I think she’s just very thin. My cousin struggled with anorexia for years and almost died from it, and I will never forget what her body and face, hair and skin, nails even, all looked like. Keira looks like the picture of health, in my opinion. Also, my opinion, and everyone’s opinions, are irrelevant. If she looked seriously ill, of course people would talk (and probably should talk…anorexia is not to be swept under the rug), but it’s really unfair and really intrusive to pick her body apart right now.
I can believe that she does not diet. But I do think some women just have a lower appreciation for food then others. I call them “1/2 a salad girls”; girls who go out to eat, order a salad, eat half of it, and then proclaim: “I’m so full!”. Anyway, whatever the reason- I don’t know if it’s environmental or genetic- some women’s eat-whatever-they-want is just less then others.
I like her sometimes. I have love-hate thing regarding Keira.
As for her dieting comment, I have a similar body frame: small bones, flat chest, bigger bottom. People all the times thinks I am underweight but it’s false. It’s all down there!
I call bullshit. She watches her weight like every other celebrity. There is nothing wrong with that. Honestly I give Paltrow credit for at least being honest.
OK, so that’s what you think about diets. Now what do you think about acting coaches?
Not to be sentimental or partial but I’ve got Kiera’s body type(pear shape) and similar facial structure so I’ve never believed this ED stuff cos I absolutely relate with her.
Pears on the slim side tend to look slimer than they really are cos we are naturally smaller on top.
As a pear it’s VERY easy to look skinny or curvy or both. If I wear dresses like Kiera’s I look straight up and down.
Then If you see me in a pencil skirt or bodycon or a bikini you’d be singing a different tone.
Kiera has a square face which can look rather angular and her being a slim pear emphasizes it, making her look more chiselled. It doesn’t help that pears lose weight first from their face and chest region.
#sighs…story of my life.
Lastly, one can be skinny or very slim without endless gym torture and excessive dieting.
The truth is, eating the right foods even in considerable quantities can still make one lose weight even when they don’t want to.
…love her black outfit and the shoes with bows. Lovely.
Wish she’ll wear a bodycon dress just for once.
I don’t particularly like her all that much but I LOVE that shade of lipstick she’s wearing in the first photo. I need it in my life.
Can I just say, I have Kieras body type as well. I feel like being a talllllll asian brings out the worst thin shaming, small boobs shaming Ive ever encountered. Maybe because I stand out. I am so pleased that most of you guys arent thin shaming and even say she is beautiful with her small chest. There are commenters like me who read what you guys are writing and are affected. Im positively affected. Thank you.