Keira Pulls Her Own Weight to Court

Tue., Jan. 23, 2007 1:43 PM PST by Sarah Hall

Make no bones about it—Keira Knightley does not take the subject of eating disorders lightly.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star has sued Britain's Daily Mail for insinuating that she was dangerously thin by using a photo of her in a bikini to illustrate a Jan. 11 article about a teenage girl who died from anorexia.

The story, which featured an interview with the dead teen's mother, ran under the headline, "If Pictures Like This One of Keira Carried a Health Warning, My Darling Daughter Might Have Lived."

According to Schillings, the law firm representing Knightley in the matter, the article "made reference to what it perceived to be Ms. Knightley's very slim appearance," and suggested that she was indirectly responsible for the girl's death by setting a bad example.

Knightley has denied in the past that she suffers from an eating disorder, telling reporters at last summer's London premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest that she was "very sure" she did not have anorexia.

"I've got a lot of experience with anorexia," Knightley said in July. "It was in my family hugely. My grandmother and my great grandmother suffered from it. And I've got a lot of friends at school who suffered from it."

"Whatever people say about my weight they are all wrong," she added.

Knightley's attorney, Simon Smith, said the actor will argue that the Daily Mail implied she was trying to mislead the public about whether she suffered from an eating disorder. Knightley will also seek to prove that her superskinny physique is not the result of anorexic tendencies.

The case is expected to go to trial in London's High Court later this year, or early in 2008, provided no out-of-court settlement is reached ahead of time.

Knightley is not the first star to go to court over a weighty matter of this ilk.

In July, Kate Hudson retained the same law firm to fight the British edition of the National Enquirer over an October 2005 story that claimed she was "way too thin" and looked "like skin and bones."

After denying that she had ever suffered from an eating disorder, Hudson triumphed in the case and accepted undisclosed libel damages and a public apology from the U.S.-based publisher of the Enquirer.

"The allegations that I sued over were blatantly false, and I felt I had no choice but to set the record straight by challenging them in court," Hudson said in a statement at the time.

Given the legal precedent in the matter, Knightley may soon have the Daily Mail eating its words.