Kiera Knightly and husband James Righton welcomed their second daughter, Delilah, in September. (Show of hands, who now has the Plain White T’s song stuck in their head? *raises hand*) James and Keira also have a four-year-old named Edie. Now that Delilah (hey there!) is seven weeks old, Keira is back working and promoting her film, Official Secrets, about an Iraq war intelligence translator turned whistleblower. During her interviews and red carpets, Keira’s let little bits and pieces about her new baby leak out. Literally, it turns out, as Keira is producing so much more milk this go round, she hits critical mass if she doesn’t pump.
Despite outward appearances for work engagements and otherwise, Knightley insists she’s having to take life day by day and schedule pumping for her newborn’s feedings strategically.
“We’re going to be apart for six hours in total, so I pumped three feeds’ worth,” she says in the interview, joking of using the breast pump, “If I don’t do it my boobs will explode.”
“I mean, quite literally. It’s going everywhere,” Knightley continues, also sharing that she is taking six months of maternity leave. “So, you know, that’s not happening. The pump is with me. It’s fine.”
Earlier this month, Knightley hit the red carpet for the London premiere of her new film Official Secrets — where she plays Iraq war intelligence translator Katharine Gun — after quietly giving birth to her second child.
The actress and new mom of two sat down with BBC Breakfast‘s Louise Minchin the next morning to discuss peaceful protests and her latest movie role — and opened up about her baby for the first time.
The Pride & Prejudice star went on to describe her demanding pumping schedule, including that she had pumped breast milk right before she went on camera for the interview.
“I’ve gotta get back before 6:30 because that’s the feed. It’s going to be fine, we’re going to make it,” Knightley told Minchin. “There is a bit of extra milk — which I’d love not to use, because it’s in the freezer and that can be tricky — but it is there.”
Of having to “deal with the stuff that normal moms have to deal with,” the actress said, “I definitely have to deal with pumping. Everyone has to deal with pumping — I mean, if you’re doing that and it’s working. If you want to do that and if you can do that — then yes, we’re pumping. Pumping. So much pumping.”
Oh, how I remember the pain of a non-pumped boob full of breastmilk. And it was a double-edged sword, too, because they looked so gorgeous in that state but yes, if someone so much as brushed past me, I’d have to do a full outfit change. We talk quite a bit about not knowing what to expect with each child and this is a prime example. It sounds like Keira has a lot more milk this time and I’m sure that was a hell of a surprise when she first started dealing with it. The thing about the second child is, even though everyone tells you otherwise, you go into it thinking you know what to expect. So poor Keira is expecting the same milk flow and schedule as with Edie and Blam! she’s momentarily blinded the dog with a sudden shot of milk. However, like Keira, I think any mom would rather have too much than too little, regardless of having a pair of active volcanos attached to their chest.
As for the film she’s promoting, it looks really good. Plus the cast is great, and it was well-reviewed. But it was released in the US in August, how did I not hear anything about it?
Photo credit: Avalon, Getty Images and YouTube
