Keira Knightley, an English actress, is best known for her roles in films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Atonement, and Pride & Prejudice. Beyond her acting talent, the much celebrated actress is admired for her confidence and self-acceptance, particularly when it comes to her body image. Having a beautiful height of 5’7″ and naturally slim physique with a smaller bust, Keira has often spoken candidly about rejecting Hollywood’s pressures to conform to a more voluptuous stereotypical body type.
The Oscar nominated actress, Keira, embodies effortless beauty on the big screen. Rather than altering her appearance to fit unrealistic beauty standards, she embraces her natural frame. However, Keira has also been outspoken about the heavy use of editing in photos and airbrushing her figure to make her appear more curvaceous.
Recently, she candidly opened up about the time she had to sit still for 45 minutes while someone ‘painted in’ her cleavage to get ready for her role in the Pirates of the Caribbean. Her openness and sense of humor about the makeup tricks used to enhance her cleavage highlights her down-to-earth personality.
During her appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Keira Knightley excitedly gave details about reprising her role in Pirates of the Caribbean. She told the US talk show host that the cast was having a lot of fun filming the two sequels to The Curse of the Black Pearl back-to-back. While she described the experience as “fantastic” for herself as well, Knightley did admit there was one small thing she had to complain about.
However, it wasn’t the long hours on set or remembering her lines that bothered her. She explained, “I’m a bit disappointed because in the first one, I had my cleavage painted every day.”

Sharing the details, she added, a “very nice lady” would come in every morning and spend 45 minutes “painting her cleavage” before a day of filming as Elizabeth Swann. Explaining the purpose was to accentuate her bust, Knightley continued, “It’s very clever, it’s all about shading and everything.”
While her character often wore a corset in the first film, the actress highlighted that her character Elizabeth had a different style in Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. She explains, “In this one, I’m not really wearing a corset, I really like the costumes, though. I do like corsets—they make you stand up very straight.”
Knightley continued telling, the 45-minute ritual was the “best bit” of starring in Pirates of the Caribbean when she was just 17 years old. Having a good laugh about the ritual, she said, “It’s great, I don’t have much up top, so it took 45 minutes to lift what I’ve got and then paint in the rest.”
She added cheekily, “They looked amazing!” Knightley even joked that the artist’s work was one of the highlights of her Pirates experience.

Knightly also praised the skills of the unknown artist who painted her cleavage during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2014. She called it a “very clever” technique that made a noticeable difference on screen.
While the Love Actually star may have enjoyed this aspect of starring in Disney’s pirate franchise, the role also took a significant toll on Knightley.
She has previously shared that she required “many years of therapy” to cope after being thrust into the spotlight. She also opened up about how she was “stalked by men” following her hugely successful Hollywood debut.