Keira Knightley made waves last week when she seemingly criticized Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, for the way she stepped out of St Mary’s Hospital’s private Lindo Wing after the birth of her daughter, Princess Charlotte, in 2015.
The British actress penned an essay titled “The Weaker Sex,” in which she ripped through Catherine for looking perfect when she left the hospital with a perfect blowout and wearing high heels, per a previous report by the Inquisitr .
Her letter is written to her daughter, 3-year-old Edie, and appears in Scarlett Curtis’ new book Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies) . The section criticizing the Duchess of Cambridge reads as follows:
“She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. 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. 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 also detailed her own birthing experience, explaining that shortly after Edie was born she was lying in her hospital bed in “a hospital gown with paper pants on,” still bleeding.
It’s pure misogyny to say Keira Knightley has ‘slammed’ the Duchess of Cambridge This is so absolutely spot on.. https://t.co/pcvx4ArfQa
— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) October 8, 2018
But Knightley has now denied that she was ever having a go at the duchess. E! News reports that the actress has had an unexpected response to people’s interpretation of her essay.
“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. “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, suggesting that everyone read the full essay and others in the book.
While most women are free to leave the hospital in a pair of sweats, slippers, and with their hair tied in messy buns after welcoming a new baby into the world, the Duchess of Cambridge does not have the same luxury, as she steps out of the hospital to the flash of the world’s cameras. By royal standards, Catherine is not allowed to step out in public looking anything less than perfect, and this extends to her even after she has spent hours in labor.