Keira Knightley used to have "no life" apart from acting

She said: "I literally had no life outside of acting, and I just wanted to go off and not be 'on' all the time, not be photographed.

"I once went to Glastonbury and was completely surrounded by packs of paparazzi the entire time, so I ended up sitting in a trailer, unable to go out."

While Keira - who made her big screen debut in thriller movie 'Innocent Lies' aged 10 - used to hide away off-screen in the early stages of her career, the 27-year-old beauty loves to portray powerful women who have some "bite" in her films.

She explained: "I'm not really interested in the kinds of women who just take off their clothes or have a sex scene and then say something cool."

Keira's latest movie role sees her play the titular character in 'Anna Karenina' - which tells the story of a female aristocrat who enters into a life-changing affair with rich Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) - and the actress insists she loves playing such complex characters.

Speaking to Vogue magazine, she added: "I think a lot of people want to play heroic characters, and that's it.

"But I don't find that very compelling. It's far more interesting to think about characters whose actions don't always make sense. The fact is, the opposite is always alive in every decision. And if you look at your own life, and the way you've behaved and thought, 'It won't always make sense either.' "