Did you know that for many people in England, Keira Knightley is their Anne Hathaway? Meaning, audiences have an irrational hatred of Knightley and absolutely baseless reason for thinking she's annoying. That's a fun fact I recently learned in The Guardian.
Much like Hathaway, though, Knightley has adopted an "eff the haters" attitude. In doing so, she's managed to endear herself to the public. Not that she needed to, mind you. It's just interesting that the same lesson we hear repeated in countless romantic comedies — the second you act like you're not interested, the object of your affection will be — seems to apply to celebrities as well.
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Knightley is on the cover of Net-a-Porter's newest issue of The EDIT, and the interview is sprinkled with even more fantastic IDGAF gems. For example, Knightley is over fairy tales. "I left them behind. Why should you be told to wait for some fucking dude to rescue you?" She's tired of Hollywood's double standards and brings up society's lack of gender parity at every opportunity.
It even comes up when Knightley discusses babies. "A friend of mine just had a daughter. It's a political thing, having a baby girl, in a way that isn't for a boy. You think, 'Oh, isn't this fairy-tale lovely?' Then, suddenly you worry, 'What [expectation] am I planting with that? I don't want her to be waiting around for a man to fix her problems.' Maybe it's a bit silly, but because [gender] equality is going so hugely the other way, I think it probably does take being silly to try and swing it back round."
Knightley knows the root of this charged debate is deeply ingrained. She recalls watching the Danish show, Borgen, which is about the first female prime minister of Denmark. On the show, the prime minister's husband is "freaking out because he's not seen his wife anymore, and the wife isn't seeing the kids because she doesn't have enough time, so he's going to leave her," Knightley says. She found herself thinking, "Oh my god, she has to give up her job! She needs to spend more time with her family." Ah, but there's the double standard: "[I]f it was a guy playing the prime minister and his wife was freaking out, you'd go, 'Shut up, woman! He's the fucking prime minister, give him a fucking break!' I'm a feminist, somebody who is saying there's a fucking problem, and I'm thinking that."
Preach, Keira Knightley. Preach. (The EDIT)
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