Keira Knightley had to go through years of therapy to get over trauma after starring in Pirates of the Caribbean

You'd think starring in one of the biggest films to ever be made would bring an actor immense happiness, but for Kiera Knightley, it was the complete opposite.

In fact, the actor has previously admitted she had to go through 'many years of therapy' after her appearance in the classic film.

Knightley was just 17 years old when she starred as Elizabeth Swann in the first Pirates Of The Caribbean film The Curse of the Black Pearl, something that certainly propelled her into newfound fame.

The instant hit of Pirates of The Caribbean skyrocketed her to unimaginable levels of fame and made her a household name across the whole of Hollywood.

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios

Despite that, Knightley admitted that featuring in the popular film franchise left her feeling 'caged'.

Speaking about the fame levels she was dealing with as a teenager, Keira told Variety in a 2016 interview: "I found it pretty horrific. I’m not an extrovert, so I found that level of scrutiny and that level of fame really hard.

"It was an age where you are becoming, you haven’t become, and you need to make mistakes. It’s a very precarious age, particularly for women.

"You’re in some ways still a child. It was traumatic, but it set up the rest of my career."

Thinking about her own daughter, Keira admitted that she 'really, really, really' hopes that she doesn't get into acting.

"I hope she’s going to be an environmental lawyer or something spectacular, but I’m going to be the kind of parent where whatever interest she has, I’m going to be supportive," she said.

What didn't help Keira at the time was that she was 'incredibly hard on herself' in the early stages of her career.

Disney

Speaking in more recent interview with the same publication, she continued: "I was never good enough. I was utterly single-minded. I was so ambitious. I was so driven.

"I was always trying to get better and better and improve, which is an exhausting way to live your life. Exhausting.

"I am in awe of my 22-year-old self, because I’d like a bit more of her back. And it’s only by not being like that any longer that I realise how extraordinary it was. But it does have a cost."

That being said, the Pirates Of The Caribbean star wouldn't take anything back.

"I’m unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that’s much less intense.

"I can deal with it now, and that’s great. But at the time, it was not so great, and took many years of therapy to figure it out."