This post contains a discussion about eating disorders.

Keira Knightley reflected on the eating disorder rumors from her early career.

Although Keira’s career dates back to the early ’90s, she reached international levels with her role in the 2003 film. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She, of course, played Elizabeth Swann alongside Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner. She also made three sequels before ending her run in 2017 to focus on other projects.

During that time, Keira received attention for her weight, including speculation about an eating disorder. She denied the rumors and in 2007 won a defamation suit for a news article that appeared to accuse her of lying and suggested she was responsible for the death of an anorexic woman.

“I knew it wasn’t true,” Keira recently told the Sunday Times about the eating disorder speculation. “I knew I was eating.”

Still, she says the accusations were traumatic. “In that classic trauma way, I don’t remember,” Keira admitted. “There’s been a complete erasure, and then some things will come up and I’ll suddenly have a very physical memory of it, because at the end of the day it’s public shaming, right? It’s obviously part of my psyche, seeing how young I was when it happened. I was made around it.”

Keira also discussed how some of her Hollywood colleagues with speculated eating disorders were also treated at the time. “I have a visceral memory of one of the Olsen twins being anorexic and her going to a clinic,” she said, apparently about Mary-Kate Olsen. “I remember being asked about it on a press tour, like it was a joke.”

“The intention was to make her feel ashamed for seeking help for anorexia,” Keira said. “I remember sitting there and thinking, ‘Wow, this is wild.’ Can you imagine?” As tears welled, Keira admitted: “That made me very emotional. That’s not even about me, it’s about her. I still can’t bear it.’

Read the full interview here.

The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.