Keira Knightley Topless on Allure: Talks Anorexia Rumors, Getting "Fantasy Breasts"

Anna Karenina star talks about body image while covering the magazine; says she's a feminist but admits to objectifying herself for her job

By Gina Serpe Nov 13, 2012 5:21 PMTags
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Keira Knightley may be an English rose, but there's long been one particular media thorn in her side: her weight.

While the Anna Karenina star famously (and successfully) filed suit against a British tabloid for labeling her anorexic, the actress has long faced accusations that she's too skinny. And the weight of those words hasn't left her unaffected.

"The anorexic stuff—it's always going to have an impact, so I think it did hit pretty hard," Allure's December cover girl told the magazine. "Because you go, oh, maybe that's right! I knew I wasn't anorexic, but maybe my body is somehow not right."

And while the 27-year-old is comfortable with her body, she revealed that the movie industry hasn't always been as accepting of her natural form as it should have been.

"They always pencil in my boobs," she explained of her films' excessive Photoshopping and general body altering in promotional materials. "I was only angry when they were really droopy.

"For King Arthur, for a poster, they gave me these really strange droopy tits. I thought, well if you're going to make me fantasy breasts, at least make perky breasts."

As for Keira herself, she's tried to strike a balance between how she has to promote her image (and, it follows in her industry, body), while holding on to her own beliefs—which, she readily admits, don't always reconcile.

"I am a feminist, but I clearly objectify myself—so that right there is a total contradiction to feminist principles."

Meanwhile, the Oscar-nominated actress, while young and perpetually in demand now, is also aware that that won't always be the case.

"It's very, very hard on women who get older," she said. "I can say that when I'm 27, you know. Talk to me when I'm 37."

Hey, we're game if she is.