The Gist
Keira Knightley has welcomed two children with her husband, musician James Righton.
Their first daughter, Edie Knightley Righton, was born in May 2015.
Their second daughter, Delilah Knightley Righton, arrived in September 2019.
It’s a girl’s world for Keira Knightley. The Woman in Cabin 10 actress is a mom of two daughters with husband James Righton.
She and Righton—a musician and founding member of English rock band Klaxons—met in 2011, when they were introduced by a mutual friend at a dinner party. They tied the knot just two years later. In 2015, Knightley and her husband welcomed their first child, daughter Edie. Four years later, they expanded their family with the arrival of younger daughter Delilah.
In a December 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the two-time Oscar nominee explained why she’s not planning to have any more kids—and a certain popular children’s show is to blame. “You know that thing where you’re like, ‘Oh, you know, they’re so nice. Should we have another one?’ And you think, ‘Oh, yeah, I could do the pregnancy. I could even do the birth. But I cannot watch any more Peppa Pig,’” she joked.
In the same interview, she noted that her daughters had finally moved on to Studio Ghibli films. “They’re very cool right now,” she told Fallon. “It’s really weird…after seven years of Peppa Pig.”
Jokes aside, Knightley has been candid about how parenting has changed her life. A 2024 interview with The Times saw her reflecting on how she chooses projects as a mom of two. “I’ve been really surprised in the past few years about what I’ve said no to,” she shared. “I’ve wanted it to be more pure entertainment and maybe that’s because I’ve needed that. I keep being offered things about children dying or about mothers dying. Can’t do it.”
Although she keeps her children out of the spotlight and doesn’t use social media, the Pirates of the Caribbean alum has spoken about them on several occasions. Here’s everything Keira Knightley’s shared about her two kids, Edie and Delilah.
Edie Knightley Righton
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Keira Knightley and James Righton at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2015.
Knightley first became a mom on May 25, 2015, welcoming daughter Edie. From her earliest days, Edie had her parents wrapped around her finger. “The love thing is astonishing. It’s a very primal, primal love. That’s quite extraordinary,” Knightley told Elle of her feelings about her firstborn in August 2015.
Growing up with an actress mother and musician father, you’d think Edie would feel drawn to a creative career, but her earliest aspirations were in a different vein. “She wanted to be a dentist, and now apparently she’s been to the zoo and she wants to be a gorilla,” Knightley told People in 2018. “So we’ll see. I’m hoping for a dentist. It might be a bit tricky if she wanted to be a gorilla when she grew up.”
In the same interview, she revealed Edie was nonplussed about her mom’s uncommon career. “I think she just thinks that everybody’s mum is probably in pictures,” Knightley joked. “It doesn’t really strike her as anything weird.”
As for how she reacts to Knightley’s films, in September 2025, the actress told People “They’re not interested in any way” when it comes to her films. “One just thinks it’s kind of completely ridiculous, and the other one still thinks it’s all real on the TV.”
Catching a glimpse of Pirates of the Caribbean at 3 years old didn’t change Edie’s mind. “[S]he just didn’t even bat an eyelid,” Knightley explained to People of her daughter’s nonchalant reaction. “[My character] fell off something into the water, and she said, ‘You fell in the water.’ I said, ‘Yes I did.’ And she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mummy, I rescue you.’ And then she walked off and she just carried on playing, and we turned it off.”
Delilah Knightley Righton
Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images for Chanel
Keira Knightley and James Righton at the Chanel Cruise 2020 Collection in May 2019.
Knightley and Righton welcomed their second child, daughter Delilah, on September 13, 2019.
In an interview with Vogue in 2023, Knightley shared that she’s “exactly not how I imagined myself to be” as a parent. “I thought I’d be a hell of a lot more hippy than I am. And I’m actually not hippy at all,” she explained. “I’m not naturally a structured person, but my kids find structure really helpful. We’re quite a timetabled house, which is literally the opposite of my entire personality.”
That structure likely came in handy when the family went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. “[Delilah] is a year now, yeah, and, you know, we went into lockdown when she was about six months, so she’s had a very strange life,” Knightley said in a September 2020 virtual appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Later in their conversation, she shared that Delilah quickly reached a major milestone while watching big sister Edie run around the house. “The baby, who I thought would be sat and very easy to look after for quite a while, at 9 months, just decided to get up and start walking,” she told Fallon. “Which I didn’t even think was possible, because her feet were like this,” the actress continued, holding up her hand to show how small her daughter’s feet were.
Now 6 years old, Delilah doesn’t quite understand her mother’s career. “She says, ‘What do you mean you’re in the TV?’” Knightley told People in September 2025.
Read the original article on InStyle