Keira Knightley reveals she was diagnosed with PTSD after having a mental breakdown

She's a multi-award winning actress who first found fame when she was still a teen. Photo / Getty Images

She's a multi-award winning actress who first found fame when she was still a teen.

And now, Keira Knightley has revealed that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after having a mental breakdown aged 22, admitting that she found leaving the house a "battle".

The actress - now 33 - was speaking to The Hollywood Reporter's podcast when she opened up about the extent to which the unremitting interest in her daily life had affected her health, reports Daily Mail.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star spoke candidly of her experience adjusting to life under paparazzi flashlights, while still a teenager.

Keira admitted that, even at a young age, she was painfully aware that photographers would get bigger paychecks for snaps of female stars - or their loved ones - reacting negatively to their constant presence.

"It was big money to get pictures of women falling apart," she said, later adding: "So there was a sense of battle every day leaving the house."

Keira also opened up about having a mental breakdown, suffering with panic attacks, and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after struggling with the overwhelming pressures of fame at such a young age.

The Love Actually actress revealed that she underwent hypnotherapy ahead of for her 2008 BAFTAs red carpet appearance, where she was nominated for Atonement, to ensure that she wouldn't have a panic attack.

She said: "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.

"I went deep into therapy and all of that, and she [the therapist] said, 'It's amazing — I normally come in here and have people that think people are talking about them and they think that they're being followed, but actually they're not. You're the first person that actually that is happening to!'"

Knightley first came to national attention as Jules Paxton in the film Bend It Like Beckham in 2002, when she was just 17.

The next year, she firmly cemented herself as an international star as she took on leading roles in Pirates of the Caribbean alongside Johnny Depp and Love Actually, which also starred Hugh Grant.

Keira's most recent film project is the upcoming biopic Colette - in which she plays the titular author - set for release in UK cinemas on 25 January 2019.

The movie, directed by Wash Westmoreland, from a screenplay by Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, based upon the life of the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.

Her husband, Henry Gauthier-Villars, portrayed by Dominic West in the film, introduces Colette to bohemian Paris, and upon discovering her talents persuades her to write the Claudine series of novels under his name.

The phenomenal success of their novel launch Willy and Colette into stardom, becoming the first modern celebrity couple - but it comes with a price.

With the lack of recognition eating away at Colette, she decides to take matters into her own hands - both emotionally and artistically.

Exploring her sexuality and gender, Colette enters into a steamy tryst with socialite Georgie Raoul-Duval, played by Poldark's Eleanor Tomlinson.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January ahead of a TIFF screening this week.

Wash Westmoreland co-wrote the film with his late partner/husband Richard Glatzer. The film also stars Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Elinor Tomlinson and Aiysha Hart.