Keira Knightley has managed to royally piss off Duchess Kate. A Kensington Palace source told Us Weekly exclusively that mother of three was “annoyed” by Knightley’s essay, in which she slammed her post-baby appearance.
In the piece, the 33-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean actress noted how Kate emerged from the hospital “face made up and high heels on” just seven hours after she welcomed Prince Louis in April. “Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging,” wrote Knightley in an open letter published in Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies.) “Look beautiful, look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate.”
The Love Actually star then shared the gory details of her own birth story with 3-year-old daughter Edie. “My vagina split,” she revealed. “I remember the s—t, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground.”
Duchess Kate, who shares Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and 5-month-old Prince Louis with Prince William, had an easier time in the delivery room.
“Keira is obviously entitled to her own opinion, but it was very much based on her own experiences and not of Kate’s. Not every mother feels the same way,” the Palace source told Us. “Keira’s comments were simply for attention and they weren’t justified.”
The source added that Kate was happy to have her her picture on the Lido Wing steps and pointed out, “she wouldn’t have done the photo call a second and third time if she was uncomfortable.”
Though Kate managed to look flawless after giving birth, she has never claimed being a mother is easy. “Kate has spoken out about the struggles of parenthood,” the source noted. As Kate told a crowd a charity event in 2017: “At times it has been huge challenge. Even for me, who has support at home that most mothers do not. Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer, overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It’s full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love, and worry, all mixed together.”
With reporting by Jen Peros
