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Keira Knightley faces backlash after revealing she wore Chanel and red lipstick every day in lockdown

‘The courage this must have taken, she’s so brave,’ one reader wrote

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Friday 11 June 2021 14:28 BST
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(Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
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Keira Knightley has sparked criticism among fans after revealing that she wore Chanel and red lipstick every day during lockdown.

The actress reflected on her and her family’s experience during the pandemic in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK for the magazine’s July issue, where she recalled how she, her husband James Righton and their eldest daughter Edie, six, played dress up to keep themselves entertained.

“We have a trampoline in our garden, and we decided we were only allowed to wear dresses on it,” the 36-year-old told the outlet. “I put on red lipstick every day, and every bit of Chanel that I have in my cupboard, and my daughter Edie had Chanel ribbons plaited into her hair and fairy wings.”

According to Knightley, her husband was also allowed on the trampoline so long as he dressed in one of his “array of peacock-coloured Gucci suits”.

As for why the actress, who has been an ambassador for Chanel since 2007, decided to implement the high-fashion dress code, she told the outlet the activity helped keep the family’s spirits high.

“I thought: ‘What is the point of these lovely things sitting in the wardrobe when it feels quite apocalyptic and scary outside?’ It felt so important to be really happy for the kids!” Knightley, who also shares one-year-old daughter Delilah with Righton, said.

Knightley then went on to recall one “weird” moment when she was sanitising groceries early on in the pandemic, recalling: “That was a really weird time, us dressed in really bright clothes, boiling apples.”

On social media, the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s admission was met with mixed reactions, with some fans accusing Knightley of being out of touch.

“Why would anyone admit to this,” one person tweeted, while another sarcastically said: “The courage this must’ve taken. She’s so brave.”

Someone else wrote: “Celebrities, they’re just like us…”

Others jokingly mocked Knightley’s choice to dress in designer clothes during lockdown, with one person writing: “Incredibly bad choice on her part, I’ve personally been wearing sweatpants from Target (as no one will see me) and they’re quite comfortable.”

Elsewhere in the cover interview, Knightley said that she considers makeup to be “armour,” before admitting that her family prefers to see her without it.

“Makeup is my armour but my husband and my elder kid don’t like it at all. My husband says: ‘Oh, you’re her.’ They don’t see it as me – and I don’t either,” she said. “It’s something other, like a character.”

When asked whether that character was a “nice one,” the actress said: “Not particularly. No, she can’t be. She’s got to be quite fierce. It’s an armour, and I think that’s how it has to be.”

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