Keira Knightley plays down anorexia rumours

LONDON - Actress Keira Knightley has denied rumours she is suffering from the eating disorder anorexia.

Speaking a day after a revealing dress she wore at the London premiere of her latest film prompted questions about her weight, she added that she had a family history of the illness.

"It was really weird, they said that to me yesterday," the 21-year-old told a news conference, referring to the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in which she stars alongside Johnny Depp.

"They asked: 'How does it feel to be always called anorexic?' I had no idea that I was. I can safely say that I'm not. I'm not saying there aren't people in the film industry that suffer from it, because I am sure that there are. But I'm quite sure I don't have it."

"I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. It was in my family. My grandmother, and my great-grandmother suffered from it and I had a lot of friends at school who suffer from it so I don't think it's anything to be taken lightly."

- REUTERS