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News 08/09/2025 15:11

Keira Knightley had to go through years of therapy to get over trauma after starring in Pirates of the Caribbean

Keira Knightley has opened up about her experience with fame after the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise became a global hit, revealing that it wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed. Keira Knightley had to go through years of therapy to get over trauma after starring in Pirates of the Caribbean

For many actors, breaking into the industry can be a long and challenging journey, with success often coming later in life or not at all. Knightley, however, was only 17 when she appeared as Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, catapulting her to worldwide fame. In the same year, she also starred in the hit film Love Actually.

Despite the recognition, Knightley has admitted that the fame she experienced was actually "pretty horrific" for her at the time. Reflecting on the impact of sudden fame, she explained in a 2016 interview with Variety: "I found it pretty horrific. I’m not an extrovert, so I found that level of fame and scrutiny really difficult."

She went on to explain that being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age was particularly challenging: "It was an age where you are becoming, you haven’t become, and you need to make mistakes. It’s a very precarious age, especially for women. You’re in some ways still a child. It was traumatic, but it set up the rest of my career." Keira Knightley has explained that the fame she had to deal with in her younger years was ‘horrific’. (Disney)

Knightley also shared that by the age of 22, she had to undergo hypnotherapy to prevent panic attacks, especially during events like the BAFTA red carpet. She was later diagnosed with PTSD. In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she admitted, "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 stuff. I went deep into therapy and all of that."

What made the experience even more difficult for Knightley was her tendency to be "incredibly hard on herself" in the early days of her career. Speaking to Harper's Bazaar in 2023, she explained: "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, which is an exhausting way to live your life. Exhausting." The actor played Elizabeth Swann in the film franchise. (Disney)

Reflecting on her younger self, Knightley said, "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 anymore that I realize how extraordinary it was. But it does have a cost."

Despite the challenges she faced, Knightley has no regrets. "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," she told Variety in 2018. "I can deal with it now, and that’s great. But at the time, it was not so great, and it took many years of therapy to figure it out."

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