Keira Knightley on experiencing harassment: 'Literally, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been'

Keira Knightly's feminist roots were brought to the surface during a walk through of her north-London neighborhood with Harpar's Bazaar UK's editor-in-chief Lydia Slater for this new profile.

While walking and discussing her feminist background as well as her brushes with misogyny, a male stranger began shouting at Knightley and telling her that she looked "very young."

"I think it’s quite interesting talking about this while being chased around," Knightley told Slater. "I love that politician who said there ought to be a curfew for men and men were outraged, and you think—but there’s a curfew for women and there always has been." 

Slater then asked if Knightley has personally experienced harassment, to which the Oscar-nominated actress responded: "Yes! I mean, everybody has. Literally, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been, in some way, whether it’s being flashed at, or groped, or some guy saying they’re going to slit your throat, or punching you in the face, or whatever it is, everybody has."

Slater also provided more context:

"Knightley was brought up to be a feminist by her mother, the playwright Sharman MacDonald, the author of When I was a Girl, I used to Scream and Shout.... Her interest, she says, 'was hugely encouraged by the fact that I was very sporty as a kid, but being a footballer wasn’t an option for me, whereas it was—in their heads—for all of the boys. That really struck me from a very young age.' Throughout her career, the characters she has portrayed have been notably strong and independent, from her breakout role, playing to type as a football-mad teenager in Bend it Like Beckham in 2002, to an unforgettable Lizzy Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 take on Pride & Prejudice, the iconoclastic French writer Colette in 2018, a whistleblower in Official Secrets, and most recently, the activist Sally Alexander in Misbehaviour."

Misbehaviour arrived unceremoniously in the U.K. back in March 2020, making its way to the U.S. last September. In it, Knightley co-starred with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessie Buckley, Greg Kinnear, and more, to tell a story about "a group of women [who] hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London." Philippa Lowthorpe directed.

Knightley will star in Silent Night, which she told Slater she finished filming two days before the first lockdown last March, when it finally releases this Christmas.