Keira Knightley is passing on what she know about feminism to her kids.
In a new interview, the actress shared how “pleased” she was when her 4 1/2-year-old daughter had the most woke reaction to Sleeping Beauty .
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Keira Knightly has always pushed for change when it comes to women’s rights.
It’s precisely why she connected so well with her character in the historical drama, Collette , in 2018, which has been called one of her best roles to date.
The movie focused on the French writer who wrote in sexual candor about both men and women.
Sadly, her husband started passing off her work as his own for his own gain.
Telling Colette’s story was important for the actress.
“It’s wonderful to play inspiring women and to get their stories and their voices out there,” Knightly told “Variety.”
“Within her writing, Colette was questioning the idea of gender and the idea of what was naturally feminine as opposed to society’s take on being feminine,” she said .
Knightley also has ties to feminism thanks to her family life.
“I’ve been raised by a feminist and my mum (Sharman Macdonald) was raised by a feminist,” she said in an interview with Whimn .
“I think I’ve always been a feminist. I was always raised to think that I could do everything.”
And now, it looks like this family pattern is carrying on with Keira’s two daughters, Delilah, 6 months, and Edie, 4½, both of whom she shares with her husband, James Righton.
In her cover story for “PORTER” magazine, Keira shared the amazing reaction her daughter had to a Disney film.
It’s surprising “Sleeping Beauty” was shown in her home since Knightley previously shared her decision to ban fairy tale movies since they don’t set a positive example for kids.
This includes _Cinderella_ and _The Little Mermaid_.
Despite her best attempts, Keira shared that her daughter has “watched them all now,” the actor said with a groan.
But her daughter is obviously being raised right by Keira, who had a super woke reaction to the movie!
“When we watched Sleeping Beauty, she said, ‘It’s not okay that man kissed her without her permission!’” she recalled.
“I can’t tell you how pleased I was,” she said. “If I don’t do anything else, I’ve managed to drum that in!”
She also spoke about the challenges of being a mom and raising a daughter. Especially when it involves men.
Don’t feel guilty about doing well if “it’s making a man feel uncomfortable,” she said.
“It doesn’t with my husband and it didn’t with my dad. But yet our society is telling us that’s what it should be.”
She continued: “A lot of the time, my mum was earning more than my dad and that was never an issue.”
“I mean, sometimes he earned more, sometimes she earned more. I was not raised to think that was anything other than normal.”
In addition to everything else, Knightley’s not afraid to share the highs and lows of motherhood on social media.
It’s partly why she wrote the personal essay, The Weaker Sex in 2018 for Scarlett Curtis’s collection, Feminists Don’t Wear Pink – and Other Lies .
“I think it’s important to counter a single narrative,” she said.
“I don’t think you shouldn’t present the perfect side of [motherhood] because, every so often, you might have the perfect side of it and you should celebrate that.”
“But the rest of it also exists. The first time round, I just felt that all I could see was this one narrative and it made me feel totally alone.”
She continued:
“And then after whispered conversations with other mothers, I realized this is actually about our lives and our experiences not being told fully. That’s where I had a problem with it.”
A lot of what she’s teaching her girls about feminism and equality is shown in her new film, “Misbehaviour.”
In it, there’s a rare scene about childcare that involves many dads.
“It’s not expected that men should look after their children; it’s seen as a bonus,” she said, with a roll of her eyes.
“Even in the workplace, my husband is never asked about childcare, whereas that would be asked of me: ‘So what are you doing with the kids?’”
Misbehaviour hits U.K. theaters on Friday.
And for more of Keira’s interview with PORTER , check it out here .
