Orlando Bloom says he sympathizes with his “Pirates of the Caribbean” costar Keira Knightley, who has expressed mixed feelings about the media attention she received after appearing in the blockbuster Disney film franchise.
“It was such a huge moment in time that is almost like… it feels almost like another lifetime now,” Bloom told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Tuesday. “But it certainly was unique and, you know, I’m always grateful.”
Bloom and Knightley starred in the first three “Pirates” films ― 2003’s “Curse of the Black Pearl,” 2006’s “Dead Man’s Chest” and 2007’s “At World’s End” ― as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, respectively. They did not appear in 2011’s “On Stranger Tides,” and returned only for cameos in 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
Though Knightley had roles in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” and “Bend It Like Beckham,” starring in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films catapulted her onto Hollywood’s A-list.
As for the “Pirates” movies themselves, she said, “I was seen as shit because of them, and yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for.”
“I definitely understand where Keira was coming from,” Bloom said of Knightley’s ambivalence about the franchise. He added that she has since done a lot of “wonderful things” in her career and added, “I have a lot of positive takeaways.”
Knightley has acknowledged having a mental health crisis at age 22 ― roughly around the time of the release of “At World’s End” ― as her public profile skyrocketed. In an interview with the U.K.’s The Times last fall, the actor said she was still deeply affected by tabloid reports around the time of the first film’s release that suggested she had an eating disorder.
“I knew I was eating,” she told the outlet, noting that she’d blocked out many memories of that period in her life. “In that classic trauma way, I don’t remember it. There’s been a complete delete, and then some things will come up and I’ll suddenly have a very bodily memory of it because, ultimately, it’s public shaming, isn’t it?”
In 2007, Knightley successfully sued the Daily Mail for libel after the British tabloid suggested she’d somehow contributed to the death of a 19-year-old who had anorexia.
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“I remember viscerally one of the Olsen twins had anorexia, and she went into a clinic,” she told the Times. “I remember being asked about it on a press tour, like it was a joke. She was meant to be shamed for seeking help for anorexia.”
“Can you imagine? That made me really emotional. That’s not even about me, it’s about her. I still can’t bear it,” she added.