Keira Knightley s acting career took off in the early 2000s, after a string of hits like Bend it Like Beckham, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Love, Actually.

Despite that professional success, the actress found it hard to feel good about herself and her acting abilities amid the relentless pressure of stardom.

From the inside, all youre hearing is the criticism, really, Knightley said during a recent interview on The Hollywood Reporters Awards Chatter podcast. It was still very confusing, because youre getting all these nominations for all of these things, but press-wise, when Im going into interviews, people are still saying, Everybody thinks youre shit, or focusing on your looks, or focusing on whats wrong with you.

She added: And, again, I was 19 you can only hear the negative stuff.

For Knightley, now 33, the pressure, criticism and constant paparazzi attention was too much as a young star.

I did have a mental breakdown at 22, so I did take a year off there and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of all of that stuff, she revealed.