Keira Knightley Shares How She ‘Trained’ Husband James Righton: ‘He Didn’t Understand Going to Restaurants’

Keira Knightley made rare comments about her husband, musician James Righton, revealing that she “trained” his culinary senses.

“He just couldn’t cook. All he ate was cheese on toast,” the Oscar nominee, 40, recalled of her early courtship with Righton, 42, during a recent appearance on the “Dish Podcast.”

The Atonement star and former Klaxons rocker began dating in 2011 and tied the knot two years later. (They share two daughters, Edie, 10, and Delilah, 6.)

However, Knightley admitted that her future husband’s palate left a lot to be desired when they first got together.

She said, “I was like, ‘This is not good enough. This is not going to work.’ He wouldn’t even go out for, like, dinner. He didn’t understand going to restaurants. He was very bizarre.”

The actress said she enlisted the help of a childhood friend to help her turn Righton into a culinary maestro.

“My oldest friend, who’s called Charlie, who’s a proper old school bon viveur, we basically trained him,” she said. “We took him out to restaurants and he wouldn’t try anything. He was like a child. He used to shut his eyes and we’d be like, ‘Try it! Try it!’ And he’d be like, ‘Yeah, OK, it’s nice, it’s nice.’”

“And then we created a monster,” Knightley added, noting that Righton was in charge of the family’s recent Christmas meal.

“He’s obsessed by [cooking]. He loves, loves, loves it,” Knightley said. “I used to cook and used to really enjoy it, but can’t say I was ever very good at it. I get very distracted. I’ll have a chat right at the moment that everything’s ready and everything burns. Whereas he’s got one of those brains that is … he loves it, he’s methodical, he does it all.”

She added, “It just got to the point where it was always just disappointing when I cooked, and it was always really good when he cooked.”

Knightley previously shared rare details into her relationship with Righton in a November 2024 interview with The Times of London.

“It’s good for an actress and a musician, isn’t it?” Knightley said of their marriage, which has lasted over a decade.

She said at the time, “We really annoy each other. But, f**k, do we laugh.”

Knightley offered some insight into their dynamic, revealing that Righton is more extroverted when it comes to Hollywood or fashion industry parties, while she is more reserved.

“If James comes, they’re fun. James believes it is his right to have a good time and he will create it anywhere he goes,” said the actress. “Unless I’m really drunk, and you can’t be if you’re at one of those events, I find it quite intense and quite difficult. James manages to break formality with people, and I can’t do that.”

The Black Doves star also said that being a mom has made her more selective about the roles she takes on, admitting that she wouldn’t sign up for another franchise like Pirates of the Caribbean.

“The hours are insane. It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming,” she said.

“I couldn’t go job-to-job [abroad] now. It wouldn’t be in any way fair on them, and I wouldn’t want to. I’ve chosen to have children, I want to bring them up, so I’ve had to take a major step back,” Knightley added.