Keira Knightley denies ‘shaming’ Kate Middleton after she gave birth

Keira Knightley has denied "shaming" Duchess Kate after she gave birth.

The actor said that she "absolutely did not shame anybody" in her recently published essay about childbirth in the newly released book, Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies).  Knightley had written about her own experience of birth and compared it to the Duchess of Cambridge. She wrote:

"We stand and watch the TV screen. She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see. "Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging."

The actor was criticised for her words by some, who suggested that she was shaming the Duchess for appearing in makeup and heels so soon after the birth of her son. Knightley, however, has refuted this claim saying that she did not shame anybody and that her words need to be read alongside the entire essay. Speaking at the premiere of Colette at the BFI London Film Festival, she said:

"I would suggest to those people in the media that they re-read the entirety of the essay and not just take one bit out of it (...) "The comments that I made are completely about our culture that silences women’s truths and forces us all to hide and I absolutely did not shame anybody in any way, in fact quite the opposite."

Knightley also said that she felt fortunate to be able to return to acting so soon after the birth of her own child because of the privileges she has. She said:

“I was very fortunate to show my daughter that it is possible to be a mother and to also work and so I have been lucky with the people that I’ve worked with because they have made that easy. "That is not the case for everybody in this country and it should be.”