Keira Knightley has shared a rare insight into her battle with dyslexia and the unique way she learns her lines as a result.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show which airs on Friday, the Black Doves actress, 40, explained how pictures instead of words were key to her remembering a script.
Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that causes problems with reading, writing and spelling and difficulties with processing.
She said: ‘I draw a lot, I am dyslexic, so I learn my lines by listening to them and while I am listening, I draw. The more detailed the drawing, the better the lines go into my head’.
The Atonement star also shared how her love of drawing had inspired her to write a new children’s book dedicated to her daughters Edie, ten, and five-year-old Delilah, whom she shares with husband James Righton.
‘My eldest daughter didn’t like sleeping at all, so every night for months I drew her a picture that she could wake up to. Then she started asking for specific things including a bird that could take the baby away. I thought I had better write a book so I could get the baby back!’.
Keira Knightley, 40, has shared a rare insight into her battle with dyslexia and the unique way she learns her lines as a result
The Black Doves actress explained how pictures instead of words were key to her remembering a script (pictured in The Woman in Cabin 10)
In a rare comment about her family, Keira also revealed that her children have no interest in watching her in iconic movie Bend It Like Beckham, despite both being football mad.
‘I keep trying to get my own girls to watch it, but they are like, ‘You’re okay, we’ll watch the Euros instead!’.
It comes after the star defiantly declared ‘I am a nepo baby’ while insisting she doesn’t get ‘annoyed’ by the expression on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast this week.
She credited her famous parents for giving her the ‘connections’ at the beginning of her career.
Keira, who hails from a family of creatives, is the daughter of playwright and screenwriter Sharman MacDonald and stage actor Will Knightley.
She said: ‘I don’t know about annoyed, I think I am a nepo baby. I mean my first proper agent was because she was my mum’s best mate, and she’s still my agent today.
‘So, I mean, I think it is true that there are connections that are made, and it’s true that within creative families, you know, a lot of the actors I know, it is generational.
‘And I think partly that is because it is a lifestyle, it’s a way of life that is quite other from a 9-to-5 job.’
She said: ‘I draw a lot, I am dyslexic, so I learn my lines by listening to them and while I am listening, I draw. The more detailed the drawing, the better the lines go into my head’.
She also shared how her love of drawing had inspired her to write a new children’s book dedicated to her daughters whom she shares with husband James Righton (pictured together)
In a rare comment about her family, Keira went on to reveal that her children have no interest in watching her in iconic movie Bend It Like Beckham (pictured) despite both being football mad
Sharman, 74, has wrote several plays including The Beast (1986), Night Night (1988) and Soft Fall The Sounds Of Eden (2004).
She also wrote the screenplay for The Edge Of Love (2008), which her daughter Keira starred in.
Meanwhile, her father Will, 79, who founded London’s Half Moon Theatre, is where Keira gets her love of acting.
Will has also dipped his toes into on-screen television and movies, making brief appearances in The Bill, A Touch Of Frost and Midsomer Murders.
Speaking about whether she wants her children to pick the same career and have a nepo baby title, she said: ‘My children, neither of them are showing any interest whatsoever, but if that’s what they choose to do, then that’s what they’ll have to deal with.
‘And I’m sure they’ll have an answer to it. Ultimately, with every job, no matter what it is, you might have help through the door, which is not nothing. But unless you bring the goods, you’re going to be chucked out very quickly.’
The Graham Norton Show BBC One and iPlayer Friday 31st October 10.40pm
The Graham Norton Show BBC One and iPlayer Friday 31st October 10.40pm (left to right) Keira Knightley, Malala Yousafzai, Aimee Lou Wood and Chris McCausland
