Keira Knightley Would Never Do a Franchise Like 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Again Now That She Has Kids: 'It's Years of Your Life'

Playing Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies may have been Keira Knightley's global breakout role, but the actress admitted she has no interest in ever being in a movie franchise again.

The British beauty explained that since becoming a mom to two daughters, she wants to spend more time at home than on set.

"The hours are insane. It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming," Knightley, 39, said of joining a series.

"I couldn’t go job-to-job [abroad] now. It wouldn’t be in any way fair on them, and I wouldn’t want to," she added of her and husband James Righton's daughters. "I’ve chosen to have children, I want to bring them up, so I’ve had to take a major step back."

Righton, 41, is by her side to raise their tots, and becoming parents has only strengthened their bond.

"It’s good for an actress and a musician, isn’t it?" she quipped of being married for 11 years. "We really annoy each other. But, f---, do we laugh."

The Oscar nominee noted that Righton brings out her more lively side, as she can be more reserved on her own when attending Hollywood shindigs.

"If James comes, they’re fun. James believes it is his right to have a good time and he will create it anywhere he goes. Unless I’m really drunk, and you can’t be if you’re at one of those events," she confessed.

"I find it quite intense and quite difficult," Knightley added. "James manages to break formality with people, and I can’t do that."

Another thing the Pride and Prejudice lead struggles with is the public spreading false rumors about her, as she said she didn't know what to do when people claimed she had an eating disorder.

"I knew I wasn't," she said, adding that things became so dramatic that "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?" Knightley said of blocking out that rough chapter of her life.

"It’s obviously part of my psyche, given how young I was when it happened," she shared. "I’ve been made around it."

In 2018, the London native revealed she had a "mental breakdown" due to the pressures of fame.

"I went deep into therapy and all of that, and [a therapist] said, ‘It’s amazing — I normally come in here and have people that think people are talking about them and they think that they’re being followed, but actually they’re not. You’re the first person that actually that is happening to!'" Knightly recalled on a podcast.

The Times spoke with Knightley.