Keira Knightley made headlines last week when she wrote an impassioned essay to her and husband James Righton's daughter, Edie, which is featured in Scarlett Curtis' new book Feminists Don't Wear Pink.
Knightley's letter, entitled "The Weaker Sex," talks about the Duchess of Cambridge's behaviour and appearance following the birth of her and Prince William's daughter, Princess Charlotte, in 2015. The actress compared Middleton's actions to her own following the birth of Edie, acknowledging that Middleton was forced to conform; to present an unrealistic image of her post-childbirth self to the world.
"She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on," Knightley wrote. "The face the world wants to see. Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful, look stylish, don't show your battleground, Kate."
But contrary to reports that the 33-year-old Colette star was criticising or shaming Kate Middleton, Knightley says those critics should re-read the essay in its entirety - rather than choosing to publish select quotes without the full context.
As Knightley writes, "Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don't show. Don't tell," she's alluding to her own situation as a public figure, and the pressures both she and Kate felt put under so soon after a life-changing event.
"Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers. This stuff is easy. It happens every day. What's the big deal?."
She's empathising with Kate - not "shaming" her.
"I think it's very interesting that certain parts of the media have, I don't want to say purposefully, but let's just say misrepresented my meaning and exactly what I said," Knightley said via the Press Association.
"So I would suggest to those people in the media that they re-read the entirety of the essay and not just take one bit out of it because the comments that I made are completely about our culture that silences women's truths and forces us all to hide and I absolutely did not shame anybody in any way, in fact, quite the opposite."
Knightley continued by adding that the book will shed light on the issues, far better than random quotes used in the media. "I would say to everybody, there is a wonderful book out at the moment, it's called Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies) and I suggest if you want to know about this then you should actually read the essay and all the others in the book and the wonderful thing is that all the proceeds go to Girl Up which is a phenomenal UN foundation which gives money to organisations that are supporting girls' education, girls' safety and girls' leadership in developing countries."
