'The horrifying moment I was abused by a thug,' by The Duchess star Keira Knightley (original) (raw)

By and Lizzie Smith for MailOnline
Updated: 12:00 EDT, 5 September 2008

Keira Knightley disappointed guests at the afterparty for her film The Duchess by keeping a bodyguard at close range and disappearing into a private room at the earliest opportunity.

But perhaps it's not surprising - she has been left 'jumpy' and feeling vulnerable after an encounter with a stranger turned into a vicious verbal attack.

Keira, 23, who has a flat in London, said: 'The other day I was walking down the street and was really thinking about this book I'd been sent. You know when you're really in another place. Somebody jumped out and went, "Keira Knightley!"

'Jumpy': Keira Knightley faced fans at the London premiere of The Duchess last night despite her recent scare

'I got such a shock, I couldn't say anything because I'd been thinking about the book and this guy took incredible offence and started hurling the most amazing abuse.

'He said, "Who the f**k do you think you f**king are? You're such a c***." All this, and I'm completely on my own.'

After that horrific experience, Keira had a minder last night for the Leicester Square premiere of The Duchess, along with her boyfriend, actor Rupert Friend.

Brave face: Keira was delighted by the warm reception

She did stop to sign autographs, but the attack is still on her mind.

'It's a weird thing to have to deal with, not on a day-to-day basis, but it's happened enough to make me quite jumpy,' the actress said.

Excitement: Keira was mobbed by her eager fans

The actress stars as Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire. The Duchess of Devonshire was Diana, Princess of Wales's great-great-great-great aunt and film publicity has linked their stories.

The trailer for The Duchess shows a clip of Diana juxtaposed with the title character and accompanied by the words: 'The two were related by ancestry and united by destiny'. A voice over adds: 'History repeats itself.'

The film poster also carries the tagline 'There were three people in her marriage' - the famous quote Diana gave to interviewer Martin Bashir which referred to Prince Charles's other companion Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Slim pickings: Keira showed off her jutting collar bones and tiny waist

Both women were born Spencers and married important men who then took mistresses. Georgiana's husband, the Duke of Devonshire, had an affair with Lady Elizabeth Foster.

Georgiana then formed a relationship with Earl Grey, the politician after whom the tea is named. She was an active political campaigner.

But neither the biography on which the film is based nor the film itself make any reference to Diana.

As a result, the trailer's content has been criticised as a cynical marketing ploy to get Diana fans to to see the film.

Strike a pose: The actress looked every inch the superstar on the red carpet

Amanda Foreman, who wrote the biography, said: 'There is absolutely no reason to have done this trailer, which is a bad joke.

'The marketing people probably thought the only way they could get the young popcorn-eating brigade to see this film was if they made some comparison with Diana. But they did not need to and should not have done it.'

She also said that the 'united by destiny' tag is inaccurate. 'I don't actually think that Georgiana died in a carriage crash,' she said.

Keira was joined on the red carpet by Tara Palmer Tompkinson and author Amanda Foreman, who wrote the best-selling book on which the film is based

Actors Camilla Rutherford and Anna Popplewell, who stars in the Narnia films

Realising the trailer was being judged a cynical marketing ploy, the cast have distanced themselves from any comparisons.

Keira said on Radio 4's Woman's Hour yesterday: 'I am Georgiana. I am not Diana. The film is not about Diana.'

And she said previously: 'I think when I signed on to do this film, I was very much signing on to do a film about Georgiana the Duchess of Devonshire. I can certainly say that for all the people who made the film, we were not trying to draw any parallels between her and Diana.

Keira's boyfriend Rupert Friend turned up in a matching blue suit

'Of course I knew that they were distantly related and I thought it was an interesting piece of trivia. I thought it was interesting that in the biography she is mentioned in the footnotes once.

'But every one of the reviewers mentioned this "three people in the marriage" thing. I am certainly not trying to draw any of these parallels. I could draw parallels with many other famous women. As far as I am concerned, I am not speaking on the behalf of the marketing people obviously, but I am not trying to draw any parallels.'

It's not all glamour: The actress caught mid-sentence

Excited fans began gathering in Leicester Square at midday

The movie begins with the Duke (Ralph Fiennes), the richest man in England, arranging with Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) to marry her daughter, 17-year-old Georgiana. He is nine years older and has met her only twice, but he needs to produce a male heir to carry on his title.

Georgiana soon finds that her husband is cold and distant to her - all he wants is a son. When she has two daughters, he loses patience and takes her best friend, Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), as his mistress.

Actor Ralph Fiennes plays the Duke of Devonshire

It took Keira more than two painstaking hours to dress every day.

'I had to be sewn in each time I put a costume on, and carefully unstitched when I took it off,' she told the Mail in a recent interview. 'That was what happened in those days, and while the end results would have been a fabulous look, getting there wasn't easy.

'The clothes, the wigs and the hats were so heavy that it became painful to stand around. At one point I had to wear a wig that was 2ft high and the weight pushed my head down into my neck. The camera couldn't even see my eyes.'

MP George Osborne and actor Sir Ian Holm were among the guests

The Duchess director Saul Dibb and fashion designer Christopher Bailey

And although Georgiana has a raunchy bedroom scene with her lover, Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), it manages to convey their passion without her undressing.

'The urgency and the lust would have evaporated long before I'd got round to unlacing my final layer,' Knightley said. 'So Dominic was told to take his kit off, which was easier for a man to do.'

It took Keira more than two hours to get into costume

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