‘Pirates’ Star Admits Starring Role Caused Them Severe Trauma

It’s been more than 20 years since Disney released the first film in what would become one of its most popular and successful live-action franchises — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The film starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate searching for a missing piece of Aztec gold. Unfortunately, the mutinous undead pirates from his old ship are also looking for the gold, hoping to end the curse against them.

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The Curse of the Black Pearl also starred Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Keira Knightley as Will’s love interest, Elizabeth Swann. Bloom and Knightley starred alongside Depp in four out of the five films in the franchise. In addition to The Curse of the Black Pearl, they also starred in Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At World’s End (2007), and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

Before appearing in Curse of the Black Pearl, Knightley had appeared in several films and television shows, most notably Bend It Like Beckham (2002). However, it was her role as Elizabeth Swann that launched Ms. Knightley to superstardom, and the then-17-year-old was unprepared for what that meant.

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In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Knightley revealed that she suffered a lot of trauma and had to go to therapy to deal with the fame that came with starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

 “She was the object of everybody’s lust,” Knightley concedes. “Not that she doesn’t have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite. I felt very constrained. I felt very stuck. So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that.” She considers the period between 2003 and 2008 “a very tricky five-year window”.

“I was incredibly hard on myself. 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 and improve, which is an exhausting way to live your life. Exhausting. 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 any longer that I realise how extraordinary it was. But it does have a cost.”

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During that time, Knightley said that she was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was only 22 years old but was already suffering from burnout. After the first Pirates film, she also starred in Love, Actually (2003) and Pride & Prejudice (2005), two roles that she is still remembered for.

Thankfully, the superstar experience didn’t turn Knightley off from Hollywood. Instead, she learned how to take care of herself and put her mental health first. Throughout her career, she has starred in a number of notable films, including Atonement (2007), The Duchess (2008), Anna Karenina (2012), The Imitation Game (2014), and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018). Most recently, she starred as Loretta McLaughlin in The Boston Strangler (2023).

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Disney is currently working on a sixth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but no casting has been announced, and it is unknown if Ms. Knightley will once again reprise her role as Elizabeth Swann.

What is your favorite Keira Knightley role? Let us know in the comments!