Keira Knightley loves her post baby body

Keira Knightly has changed her outlook on body image since having daughter Edie, earlier this year. Photo/ Getty . Photo/ Getty

Motherhood has changed Keira Knightley's body image and the way she approaches acting.

She and musician husband James Righton became the parents to a little girl named Edie earlier this year.

It was an experience that had a profound affect on her entire life, the actress revealed.

"I have to say, as a woman, you hate certain parts of your body. You go through those periods where you look in the mirror and you think, 'Oh, if only I had different legs or arms or whatever'," Knightly said.

"You go through pregnancy and labour and then feeding the kid and you go, 'Wow, my body is totally amazing, and I'm never going to not like it again, because it did this, and this is f**king extraordinary'.

Knightley felt having a child also affected the way she looked at her career, for the better.

It's one of the reasons she chose to make a Broadway debut in the title role of Therese Raquin.

"I think motherhood puts everything into perspective, I really do," she said at the play's Broadway opening.

Motherhood is one reason Keira Knightley chose to take on Broadway in the title role of Therese Raquin. Photo / Getty

Returning to work after Edie, the actress was attracted to the role which she had previously passed up.

"I've been offered it a bunch of times and I've always gone, 'Well, this is scary and this is really difficult," she said.

"I still find it terrifying, but why not give it a go".

She stars in Emile Zola's melodrama as a detached wife who finds passion in the arms of another man, with disastrous consequences.

Knightley said the content was "scary and difficult" at times, and the role "challenging".

The actress attributes motherhood as a catalyst for finding the courage to step outside her comfort zone.

"I'm very grateful to become a mother while doing something this unbelievably difficult, because honestly the worst that could happen is that you fail.

"Ultimately as long as my kid is all right, everything is fine."

- AP