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Keira Knightley Explains Why Her Daughter Is Banned From Watching Some Disney Movies

The Ellen DeGeneres Show/YouTube

For a countless number of people, watching Disney movies was a necessary staple in their childhood.

These family-friendly fairy tales have taught children the value of courage, kindness, and unconditional love in a simple reminder they'll carry for the rest of their lives.

However, some of these beloved classics were brought to life decades ago, they don't always share the same modern messages we now try to teach the kids of our own.

One of these parents who's noticed the disparity is none other than Academy Award-nominee Keira Knightley.

On October 16, Knightley made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she told everyone's favorite talk show host she's forbidden her three-year-old daughter Edie from watching certain Disney movies.

"This is the one that I'm quite annoyed about because I really like the film."

On the show, Knightley told Ellen DeGeneres that several Disney movie are outdated for this day and age, including one of the most popular films of all, Cinderella.

"Cinderella: banned. Because she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don't! Rescue yourself, obviously."

But Cinderella wasn't the only classic to get the boot. Knightley said she also had to make the difficult decision of banning the Little Mermaid from her home as well.

"This is the one that I'm quite annoyed about because I really like the film ... I mean, the songs are great, but do not give your voice up for a man, HELLO," she explained.

"I love The Little Mermaid, so that's a tricky one, but I'm keeping to it."

But which films made the cut?

The Imitation Game star said plenty of modern Disney movies are often played for her daughter, including DeGeneres own film, Finding Dory.

"Finding Dory is a big favorite in our house. Frozen is huge; Moana is totally fine. There are some great ones," Knightley said.

Watch the entire clip for yourself:

But this isn't the first time Knightley has stirred up controversy. In an essay released earlier this month, the Pirates of the Caribbean actress allegedly shamed the way Kate Middleton handled the birth of her children.

"Look beautiful. Look stylish, don't show your battleground, Kate."

Knightley penned an entry titled "The Weaker Sex", which was published in a feminist essay collection "Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies)," in which she called out the Duchess of Cambridge for her fresh faced public appearance only hours after the birth of her children.

"We stand and watch the TV screen. She [Kate] was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see.

Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful. Look stylish, don't show your battleground, Kate.

Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don't show. Don't tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers."

She compared Middleton's delivery to her own, and expressed how distressing the experience was.

"My vagina split," she wrote. "You came out with your eyes open. Arms up in the air. Screaming. They put you on to me, covered in blood, vernix, your head misshapen from the birth canal. Pulsating, gasping, screaming."

"You latched on to my breast immediately, hungrily, I remember the pain. The mouth clenched tight around my nipple, light sucking on and sucking out."

"I remember the s"”, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving. And I am the weaker sex? You are?"

But once the public caught wind of Knightley's feelings, she quickly received backlash and had to backtrack on her own words.

"I absolutely did not shame anybody in any way, in fact quite the opposite."

Following the media's criticism, Knightly clarified her remarks while at the 2018 BFI London Film Festival.

"I think it's very interesting that certain parts of the media have, I don't want to say purposefully, but let's just say misrepresented my meaning and exactly what I said," Knightley said via the Press Association.

"So I would suggest to those people in the media that they re-read the entirety of the essay and not just take one bit out of it because the comments that I made are completely about our culture that silences women's truths and forces us all to hide and I absolutely did not shame anybody in any way, in fact quite the opposite."

"So I would say to everybody, there is a wonderful book out at the moment, it's called "Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies)" and I suggest if you want to know about this then you should actually read the essay and all the others in the book and the wonderful thing is that all the proceeds go to Girl Up which is a phenomenal UN foundation which gives money to organizations that are supporting girls' education, girls' safety and girls' leadership in developing countries."

However, when Middleton heard of Knightley's criticism, the royal reportedly voiced her own disdain over the impassioned essay.

"Keira's comments were simply for attention and they weren't justified."

According to Us Weekly,  the Duchess is aware she has had easier child births compared to other new mothers.

"Keira is obviously entitled to her own opinion, but it was very much based on her own experiences and not of Kate's. Not every mother feels the same way," the Palace source told the gossip magazine. "Keira's comments were simply for attention and they weren't justified."

The insider added that Middleton was happy to oblige in the photo shoot and "she wouldn't have done the photo call a second and third time if she was uncomfortable."

And even though she's a high-profile royal with plenty of support at her beck and call, Middleton has acknowledged being a parent is no walk in the park.

"At times it has been huge challenge. Even for me, who has support at home that most mothers do not," she said at a 2017 charity event.

"Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer, overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It's full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love, and worry, all mixed together."

[H/T: E! Online, Us Weekly]

Did you let your children watch Disney movies? Let us know in the comments!

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