Keira Knightley and musician James Righton have been together for over 10 years and have two children together. However, this relationship surprised Knightly.
In a 2014 interview with Time Out, she admitted that marriage wasn’t on her to-do list before she met Righton.
“My parents are hippies through and through. They got married because it was the only way to get a mortgage at the time,” Knightley explained. “I grew up with them saying, ‘I don’t know why you get married.’ And we did. It was great. It was fun. Until we got divorced instead! I crossed my fingers for the future.”
Before meeting Knightley, Wroten had played in his band, the Klaxons, and was well-known in its own right. In 2017, he told the New York Post, “She hadn’t heard of us at all. Keira was in America while we were having fun in the sun in England, so she wasn’t aware. But over the years, she came to a lot of our gigs and loved ‘Surfin’ the Void.'”
Here’s Knightley and Righton’s complete relationship timeline so far.
2011
In October 2014, Ms Knightley told the Guardian that she met Ms Righton through a mutual friend at a dinner party in 2011.
“As people keep telling me,[we met]through my buddy Tim, not through Alexa Chung,” she said. “We were very drunk.”
She added: “He’s like the brightest light in any room and I’m sitting in the corner. And he’s a much nicer guy than me.”
May 2012
According to Reuters, the pair got engaged in May 2012 and when they spoke to Keira’s publicist at the time, Sarah Keene, she only replied, “I can confirm that Keira is engaged to James Righton.”
May 2013
The couple married about a year later, on May 4, 2013, in a small ceremony attended by just 11 people in the small town of Mazan in the south of France, British Vogue reported. A reception was then held for a larger group at Knightley’s mother’s home.
Knightley wore a couture Chanel minidress with tulle and silver lace over a white tweed jacket by Karl Lagerfeld. In an interview with Elle UK, she revealed that she wore a Valentino dress covered in flowers for her second wedding, which was just for her friends. “I wore it to a ceremony in the woods just for my friends, because dresses in the woods have to have flowers,” she said.
On their honeymoon, the couple went to Corsica and were photographed enjoying the beautiful beaches.
Wrighton told NME that his band The Klaxons was not influenced by his famous wife, explaining: “I just happened to fall in love with an amazing person. We had a beautiful wedding and there was so much love.”
“Music is music,” he continued. “It’s going to be there depending on who she is, but I think we’re a pretty established band.”
Of the wedding, he said: “It was the best day ever. It was amazing. We’re still high from it. It was about two weeks ago and it was a big party.”
December 2013
Knightley wore a Chanel wedding dress on the red carpet at the Serious Fun Children’s Network London Gala at the Roundhouse.
December 2014
It was reported that the two were planning to give birth to their first child at the end of 2014.
February 2015
Baby Knightley was seen wearing a Valentino tulle dress at the 2015 Academy Awards at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Los Angeles.
May 2015
On May 26, 2015, Knightley and Righton welcomed their first child, Edie Knightley Righton.
In August of the same year, Knightley told Elle: “Love is an amazing thing. It’s a very primal, primal love. It’s pretty extraordinary… and the ability to run without a wink of sleep. It’s not fun. I never thought I’d be able to spend all this time actually doing it.”
May 2019
In 2019, the couple revealed they were pregnant again when Ms Knightley’s belly was visible from the Chanel J12 cocktail party in Paris.
September 2019
On September 13, 2019, their second daughter, Delilah Knightley Righton, was born. The couple kept Delilah’s birth a secret for a month before Mr Knightley spoke to the Telegraph about Delilah. She then shared details about her breastfeeding experience, joking, “I pumped three feeds because I’ll be away for a total of six hours. Otherwise my breasts would explode. I mean, literally. It’s everywhere.”
October 2019
She opened up more about motherhood in an interview with BBC Breakfast in October.
“I don’t remember what your question was,” she told the interviewer matter-of-factly. “You know I have a six week old baby, right?”
She continued, “Can I tell you, this is about the third time since giving birth that I’ve had my hair combed or not. Today my hairdresser, the lovely Luke, combed it for me…When they arrived I was in my pajamas, which is someone else’s dress. Today has been all smoke and mirrors and I’m so happy. But it’s like I was led here.”
June 2021
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Knightley spoke about parenting during the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We had a trampoline in the garden and we decided that we could only wear dresses on it,” she said of playing with her daughters. “I wear red lipstick every day and cover every inch of Chanel I have in the cupboard. My daughter Edie had Chanel ribbons woven into her hair and fairy wings.”
Righton ended up wearing one of his “many peacock-colored Gucci suits.”
Knightley added: “I thought, ‘What’s the point of having all these nice things in your wardrobe when it feels so apocalyptic and scary outside? I felt it was so important for the kids to be really happy! And you would do that.’ Oh, and you forget — and then the shopping arrives and you have to wipe it all down before you put it away, remember? My husband went into extremes when I found these weird brown apples and said I’d boil them because people might have eaten them.” touched them. I said, “Yeah, but I can’t eat it right now!” It was a really strange time, we were wearing very bright clothes and boiling apples! ”
March 2023
During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Knightley spoke about her and Wrighton, who are celebrating 10 years of marriage.
“Yeah, we made it. We made it. We have two kids, and we made it through for 10 years. It’s a miracle,” she joked. “I met my husband in a very drunk state. I don’t remember much of our first few dates because I was so drunk.”
June 2024
The couple attended Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2025 Haute Couture show in Paris.
July 2024
The two watched the Wimbledon match together.
November 2024
In an interview with The Times, Knightley said that she became more selective about her film roles after becoming a mother.
“Now they can’t move from job to job (overseas). It’s never fair to them and I don’t want to do that either,” she said. “I had to take a big step back because I chose to have and raise a child.”
She also admitted that series like Pirates of the Caribbean are now too demanding because “time is so long.”
“Life takes years,” she explained. “You can’t control where you shoot, how long you shoot, or what you shoot.”
Afterwards, she said of their marriage, “11 years is good for an actress and a musician.”
“We get really annoyed with each other. But, you know, we laugh?” she said before talking about the possibility of collaborating on music. “Sometimes he tries to get me to clap, but apparently I don’t have the timing and we end up in a big fight. It’s going to be bad.”
She also said that they balance each other out at parties.
“When James comes (to a party), it’s fun. James believes it’s his right to have a good time, so he creates a good time wherever he goes,” she said. “Unless I’m really drunk, which I don’t do when I’m at an event like that, I think it’s very intense and very difficult. James can manage to break the formalities with people, and I can’t do that.”
December 2024
They were photographed enjoying a soccer match with Michael Fassbender in Italy.
January 2025
On January 4th, they attended W Magazine’s annual Best Performance Party at the Chateau Marmont.
On January 5, Knightley and Righton were photographed at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.
February 2025
On February 28, they appeared at the Tod’s fashion show during Milan Fashion Week.
March 2025
The two appeared at Paris Fashion Week on March 4th, dressed up for the Louvre’s Grand Dinner.
July 2025
The couple attended ERDEM and Gay’s The Word Pride Cocktail in support of Not a Phase on July 3, along with Knightly’s Black Doves co-star Ben Whishaw.
On July 6th, they attended the Val d’Eté photocall at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
On July 8, they attended the Chanel show in Paris.
On July 13, he was spotted sitting next to Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, and Andrew Scott at Wimbledon.
