“While most celebrity offspring hate the so-called ‘nepo baby’ term, Keira Knightley has taken it in her stride.”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
The Hollywood actress, 40, has defiantly declared ‘I am a nepo baby’ while insisting she doesn’t get ‘annoyed’ by the expression on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast this week.
Keira credited her famous parents for giving her the ‘connections’ at the beginning of her career.
The Black Doves star, who hails from a family of creatives, is the daughter of playwright and screenwriter Sharman MacDonald and stage actor Will Knightley.
Keira said: ‘I don’t know about annoyed, I think I am a nepo baby. I mean my first proper agent was because she was my mum’s best mate, and she’s still my agent today.
‘So, I mean, I think it is true that there are connections that are made, and it’s true that within creative families, you know, a lot of the actors I know, it is generational.
‘And I think partly that is because it is a lifestyle, it’s a way of life that is quite other from a 9-to-5 job.’
Sharman, 74, has wrote several plays including The Beast (1986), Night Night (1988) and Soft Fall The Sounds Of Eden (2004).
She also wrote the screenplay for The Edge Of Love (2008), which her daughter Keira starred in.
Meanwhile, her father Will, 79, who founded London’s Half Moon Theatre, is where Keira gets her love of acting.
Will has also dipped his toes into on-screen television and movies, making brief appearances in The Bill, A Touch Of Frost and Midsomer Murders.
Speaking about whether she wants her children to pick the same career and have a nepo baby title, she said: ‘My children, neither of them are showing any interest whatsoever, but if that’s what they choose to do, then that’s what they’ll have to deal with.
‘And I’m sure they’ll have an answer to it. Ultimately, with every job, no matter what it is, you might have help through the door, which is not nothing. But unless you bring the goods, you’re going to be chucked out very quickly.’
Keira also admitted she ‘didn’t care about fitting back in her jeans’ after giving birth to her two daughters.
The actress shares daughters Edie, 10, and Delilah, six, with her musician husband James Righton, 42.
She reflected on her post-partum figure as she opened up on her post-natal depression battle that left her needing ‘lots of therapy’.
Although she was ‘surprised’ her body didn’t bounce back to normal, Keira said she didn’t mind that she fitted into bigger jeans.
Keira said: ‘I was very surprised that it didn’t. I’ve always had a body where I did I had to do very little and it was just one of those thin bodies, you know, it came back.
‘And it didn’t [after giving birth]. And it hasn’t, you know. And so, yeah, I was surprised, but I was also like, there’s more important things, I’ll just buy a bigger size of jeans. I mean, I kept my clothes from pre thinking that I would be able to fit.’
Keira admitted she had ‘lots of therapy’ after having what she calls a ‘hormonal crash’ after welcoming her daughters.
Despite having a ‘completely normal birth’, Keira said she struggled massively with sleep deprivation for three years.
Keira shared: ‘I remember the kind of hormonal crash. I’d been on this amazing hormonal high, and then there was a crash down. I think after that it was post-natal depression for a while.
‘I did lots of therapy about a year, maybe a couple of years later, to sort of deal with all of that. But it was confusing, not having that physical side of it made everything more confusing.’
She added: ‘There wasn’t any sleep for three years and that was for a completely normal birth. There were no major complications, it went pretty well, especially for a first birth. The baby was fine. I was fine.
‘Everything was fine and still, despite everything being completely fine, this huge, life-altering thing had happened.
‘At that point, I felt like the public discourse around it was terrible: “Can you get back in your jeans yet? Back to work? Nothing’s happened. Carry on. You’re going out.” It felt like there was no discussion, no interest, just, “When are you getting back in your jeans?”
‘And I was like, what? I’m on a different planet. I’ve just travelled from one planet to another. I didn’t care about my jeans.’
If you have been affected by this story please contact Birth Trauma Association at birthtraumaassociation.org.uk
For help and support with perinatal mental illness please contact PANDAS on 0808 1961 776