Keira Knightley "thought about" quitting acting.

Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

The 33-year-old actress struggled with being in the spotlight when she catapulted to fame starring alongside the likes of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in blockbuster movie franchise 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and admits she considered turning her back on Hollywood.

Asked if she ever thought about quitting acting, she said: "I did think about it. Particularly at the point when I had a breakdown. I had PTSD and panic attacks. I literally couldn't work for a year and I didn't know whether there would be an end to that. I have a super-solid background and thank f**k for that. My family and my small but very close group of friends just wrapped me up. And I think, without that, it would have been a very different story. I knew I always had somebody there to cuddle me who didn't want anything from me. Ultimately, I didn't want them [the media and paparazzi] to win. The only thing I want to do is make films."

And the 'Colette' star found fame "very intense and lonely" and her strive to be perfect took its toll.

She shared to The Sunday Times' Style magazine: "It was very intense and lonely. If there's a camera at a party, I don't think that's a party, so I was never interested in being in that scene. I always wanted to be top of the class, and I always wanted to be perfect, and I always thought that I could just do fame right. I tried being 5lb heavier, but then people say you have cellulite, and then 5lb lighter, and then you're anorexic and causing people to die. It was just so much. But in a funny way I think I was quite lucky in that it was so insane that I sort of recognised it."

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