Keira Knightley Says She Won’t Do Any Sex Scenes For Male Directors

Keira Knightley announced that she would not shoot sex scenes in the films in which are directed by men. The actress has had a “no nudity clause” in her contracts after becoming a mother in 2015.

Knightley blamed the constant issue of the “male gaze” and the fact that she is now a mother of two kids. “I don’t have an absolute ban [on filming nude scenes], but I kind of do with men,” she told the Chanel Connects podcast. “It’s partly vanity and also it’s the male gaze. Saying that, there’s times where I go, ‘Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot,’ so therefore you can use somebody else. Because I’m too vain, and the body has had two children now, and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked.”

Knightley also confirmed that she will only shoot a sex scene under a female director if the film is about motherhood or had themes relating to the “female experience.” “If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body [acceptance], I feel like, I’m sorry, but that would have to be with a female filmmaker.”