This week is turning out to be quite the treasure trove of newly-revealed beauty trivia from some of our favorite rom-coms. Following Julia Roberts' explanation earlier this week of what she was really saying when she flashed that armpit hair at the 1999 premiere of Notting Hill, Keira Knightley just divulged the skin predicament that inspired a standout wardrobe choice in 2003's Love Actually.
In a new interview with BBC Radio 1, Knightley shares that the oversized conductor's cap her character, Juliet, wears throughout the iconic Christmas film wasn't just a cute stylistic choice: It was actually a last-ditch effort to triage a real-life zit. "I had a massive spot in the middle of my forehead. This is the problem with being 17 and being in films,” she says. “It was humongous, so there was no choice but to find a hat to cover it — because there was no lighting or makeup that was going to cover it.”
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Knightley says she remembers it all like it was yesterday. “It's funny how you just remember extreme embarrassment. I remember coming in in the morning, being like, [gasps] 'Oh wow, I've got another head on my head. What are we going to do? There's nothing we can do about this,’” she says. “But there is, because you can always put a hat over it. I was actually very grateful for that hat. I have a lifetime of gratitude for that hat."
She’s not the only one. We always saw Juliet's cap as embodying a certain cool-girl chill — and we still do. But now that we know the backstory behind it all? We dig the look even more. Because when life gives you a confidence killer, be it a ginormous zit or setback at work, what better than a low-key power move to reclaim the narrative?