Keira Knightley covers American Vogue Magazine October 2012.
In the issue, the 27-year-old is incredulous at the question of motherhood and femininity; as though one were prohibitive of the other. Here’s the interview promoting her role in Anna Karenina. Also below, the Mario Testino shoot.
On feminism, work, and motherhood: The feminist debate reignited earlier this year by former State Department director of policy planning Anne-Marie Slaughter, who announced that she was putting the needs of her family ahead of her own career, has obviously struck a nerve with Keira. “I’m glad that the subject is coming up again,” she says. “I remember doing interviews, and people would ask, as if it was a joke, ‘So you mean you are a feminist?’ As though feminism couldn’t be discussed unless we were making fun of it. I don’t want to deny my femininity,” she continues. “But would I want to be a stay-at-home mother? No. On the other hand, you should be allowed to do that, as should men, without being sneered at.”
On taking a break from work: “I literally had no life outside of acting, and I just wanted to go off and not be ‘on’ all the time, not be photographed, not…” She pauses, then remembers, laughing. “I once went to the Glastonbury music festival,” practically a rite of passage for every English teenager, “and was completely surrounded by packs of paparazzi the entire time, so I ended up sitting in a trailer, unable to go out.”
On playing the heroine: “I think a lot of people want to play heroic characters, and that’s it,” she says. “But I don’t find that very compelling. It’s far more interesting to think about characters whose actions don’t always make sense. The fact is, the opposite is always alive in every decision. And if you look at your own life, and the way you’ve behaved and thought, it won’t always make sense either.” - via Vogue Magazine.
