Keira Knightley is reflecting on the darker side of fame — and the toll it took on her mental health.
In a candid new interview with The Times UK, the Black Doves actress opened up about the relentless harassment she endured from paparazzi during the height of her career, describing the experience as something out of a “horror movie.”
“I remember waking up one day and there were ten men outside my front door — and they didn’t leave for about five years,” the 39-year-old actress revealed. “Oh, I did go mad. Believe me. I went mad. I just managed to hide it.”
Knightley said the constant intrusion left her living in a state of fear and anxiety, with photographers often hurling insults to provoke a reaction. “They would call me a ‘whore’ and a ‘slut’ whenever I was seen with a man,” she recalled. “They were trying to get a reaction — to make someone punch them so they could sue.”
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The Love Actually star explained that the years of constant surveillance left her hyper-aware of being followed. “My dad said, ‘You should be in the CIA,’ because I always knew when people were following me. It was a physical feeling,” she said. “Then I’d question myself — ‘Was I imagining it?’ — until I’d see the photos the next day and realize I was right.”
Knightley eventually developed coping mechanisms to reclaim some control over her life. Drawing inspiration from passive resistance, she adopted a clever strategy to make her paparazzi photos worthless. “I started wearing the same clothes every day,” she said. “If I was being followed, I’d stop walking. Stand completely still. One day, I stood there for five hours. It wasn’t a valuable shot if I looked the same every time.”
Even then, the pressure didn’t let up. Feeling trapped, Knightley made the drastic decision to step away from Hollywood altogether. She told her agent to stop sending her scripts and spent time traveling across Europe, rediscovering peace and anonymity.
When she eventually returned to acting, she started with smaller theater projects, allowing herself to reconnect with her craft on her own terms.
Despite the trauma, Knightley says the experience taught her resilience. “I didn’t want to be beaten. I wasn’t going to let them win,” she said firmly. “I was very, very, very driven. Don’t get me wrong — I was cracking up — but I wasn’t going to let them beat me. No, no, no. No.”
