A Resurfaced Interview Of Keira Knightley Is Going Viral For The Wrong Reasons

Natasha JokicMon, July 27, 2026 at 7:18 PM UTC

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A resurfaced interview of Keira Knightley is making the rounds, and not in a good way.

Dave Benett / Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Getty Images for NetflixThe 41-year-old actor has largely stayed controversy-free throughout her career, but came under fire last year when she was asked about voicing a character in the Harry Potter audiobooks amid boycotts of the franchise over J.K. Rowling's anti-trans activism. "I was not aware of that, no. I'm very sorry," she replied with a laugh.

Decider / Viatiktok.com

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As for the discussion now, it stems from a clip from a Vanity Fair interview with Rosamund Pike from last year, published to mark the 20th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice. In the movie, Keira played Elizabeth Bennet, while Donald Sutherland played her father, Mr. Bennet.When talking about things that happened when the cameras were off, Keira said, "There was the party that Donald Sutherland came to, because the whole thing was that you weren't allowed to smoke. He had it in his contract that nobody on the set was allowed to smoke anywhere near [him] and you couldn't smell of smoke."

Dave M. Benett / Getty Images"But of course everyone smoked — back then, anyway, everyone smoked. We'd be running off," she said, before miming covering herself with spray to mask the scent. It's worth noting that the movie was filmed before the UK's indoor smoking ban.

Vanity Fair / Viayoutube.com

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"The party he came to, he came in the center of it in a gas mask," Keira added with a laugh. "Because he knew that everybody was smoking, and he was like, 'I want you to all be able to smoke, and I wanted to come to the party.' So we were there smoking [with] him and the gas mask."

Vanity Fair / Viayoutube.comNow, Donald died in 2024 at age 88 after battling a "long illness." It's been reported, but never confirmed by his team, that the cause of his death was the lung disease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. In 1981, he said that he had quit smoking after he used to smoke four packs of cigarettes a day. He had expressed not wanting cigarette smoke around him on set as early as 1992.

Arnold Jerocki / Getty Images

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Keira actually told the same story in her 2024 tribute to him: "He had this clause in his contract that no one was allowed to smoke anywhere near him. Most of the rest of the cast were in their late teens and early 20s, all chugging away. We used to manically wash our hands and spray ourselves with perfume after, so he wouldn’t know. He’d sniff the air as soon as he came on set and we’d all nervously shuffle about. At some point during filming, he came to a party we all had in a gas mask so we could all smoke. I will always remember him standing in the middle of that party in a gas mask."

Dave M. Benett / Getty ImagesFor some reason, the clip of Keira joking about the incident in 2025 was shared on X this weekend, and the response was...strong:

X / Viax.com"This seems like a very disrespectful story about very disrespectful behavior."

X / Viax.com

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"Advertising you were all too selfish to simply not smoke around someone who was bothered by it is kinda sociopathic."

X / Viax.com"them acting like this is a cute funny story."

X / Viax.comWhat do you make of this story? LMK in the comments.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”