Keira Knightley is a lady with Hollywood at her feet but things haven't always been easy for the 29-year-old actress.

Knightley, who has an estimated worth of £29 million, has opened up about her geeky past and how tough she found it transitioning to the glare of the media limelight - with all the pressure and criticism that came with it.

Knightley's breakthrough role came aged 17 in 2002 indie comedy Bend It Like Beckham, and she admits she paid a price for finding fame so early.

"I've definitely done all my learning publicly," the actress told the Guardian. "And I've had to develop a thick skin because of that. So yeah, there would have been a comfortable way of doing it where I went to drama school and made tons of mistakes. If you could choose how success happens, that's what I would have chosen. But of course you can't.

"I chose to jump, knowing it was going to be brutal because I knew that I hadn't learned enough. I didn't know what I was meant to be doing."

"I've had to develop a thick skin": Keira Knightley on dealing with "brutal" criticism