Keira Knightley "struggled" with criticism early in her career.
Keira Knightley
The 33-year-old actress has been starring in movies since she was a teenager, and has said that whilst she's developed tougher skin against her critics now, she wasn't so strong when she first started getting backlash for her roles.
Asked how she copes with negativity, she said: "I remember that perfection doesn't exist. But I struggled at first. I'd been a straight-A student, I'd never had a detention, I was on set every day on time, I'd done my research, I knew my words ... I had that desperation for the 'A' the entire time. And I suddenly went, 'Oh f**k, it's crumbling. I don't know what to do.'"
The 'Colette' star often received harsh comments about her body, and branded the hateful words as "really extreme".
She added: "I was getting modelling contracts where you're being told you're beautiful, but at the same time, I've got major newspapers saying, actually, her body should come with a health warning because she's sick, anorexic, and she's making other people sick and she's disgusting.
"Then I hear things like, 'Her face is disgusting and her mouth looks like a bangle', and everything was really extreme."
And whilst she tried to not let the negativity bring her down, her young age meant she was more impressionable, and found it difficult to "please everybody" - especially when everyone seemed to want her to be something different.
When asked by Notebook magazine if the comments got to her, the 'Anna Karenina' actress said: "It can't not. At that age all you want to do is fit in. But when you're the girl who's been taught to be perfect, all you want to do is please everybody. But I couldn't be thinner and fatter at the same time."
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