This post contains discussion of sexual assault.
Obviously, Keira’s had an incredible and extensive career over the past few decades. One of her breakthrough moments in the 2000s was her portrayal as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise starting in 2003.
Keira ended up appearing in four of the Pirates of the Caribbean films: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003, Dead Man’s Chest in 2006, At World’s End in 2007, and Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.
In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Keira revealed that her life was negatively affected as a result of her role in the Pirates franchise — and it sounds like it was pretty horrible.
“My jaw dropped at the time,” Keira replied when asked about the “brutal time for young women in the culture” that the 2000s represented. “I didn’t think it was OK at the time. I was very clear on it being absolutely shocking.”
“There was an amount of gaslighting to be told by a load of men that ‘you wanted this,'” she continued. “It was rape speak. You know, ‘This is what you deserve.’ It was a very violent, misogynistic atmosphere.”
Keira then specifically pointed out that by saying what she “deserved,” the men in question were saying that she “wanted to be stalked by men.” “Whether that was stalking because somebody was mentally ill, or because people were earning money from it — it felt the same to me,” she added, alluding to the paparazzi’s treatment of her as well as an alleged stalker she dealt with in the mid-2010s.
“It was a brutal time to be a young woman in the public eye.”
Keira also suggested that “social media” has put the type of misogyny she faced “in a whole other context, when you look at the damage that’s been done to young women, to teenage girls.”
“Ultimately, that’s what fame is — it’s being publicly shamed. A lot of teenage girls don’t survive that.”
You can read the entire interview with Keira here.
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.