Keira Knightley and James Righton’s Complete Relationship Timeline
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Keira Knightley has often kept the details of her life very private, which is why she’s never had public social media accounts and why she even took an outlet to court once for libel (a case which she won, by the way). However, one aspect of her life that she’s often willing to talk about is her relationship with musician and former Klaxons member James Righton, whom she’s been with for over a decade.
Since meeting through a mutual friend, the pair have gotten hitched and welcomed two kids, and Righton has remained Knightley’s plus-one for fashion shows, red carpet events, and more.
Ahead, read the couple’s complete relationship timeline, from their first date all the way to their current life as a family of four.
June 25, 2024: Keira and James attend Chanel couture show together.
After attending a Chanel show together in 2022, Knightley and Righton start to make a tradition of it when they appear together for the Fall/Winter 2024/2025 couture show.
For this event, Knightley looks dreamy in a white A-line dress with puffy sleeves and a bow-adorned neckline, which she accessorizes with a quilted white bag and black-and-white heels. Meanwhile, Righton chooses a black suit with a white T-shirt underneath and his go-to Gucci black loafers.
March 17, 2023: Keira discusses her 10th wedding anniversary.
During Knightley’s appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, host Barrymore notes that Knightley and RIghton’s 10th wedding anniversary is coming up. To that, the Pride and Prejudice star says, “Yeah, we made it. We made it. We have two children, and we’ve made it a decade. It’s a miracle.”
She humorously adds, “I met my husband in a very drunken way. We were very drunk for our first few dates, so we don’t really remember them.”
May 26, 2022: The pair walk their first red carpet together in three years.
Knightley and Righton make their return to the red carpet for the first performance of the ABBA “Voyage” at ABBA Arena following the COVID-19 pandemic. For the event, Knightley sports a little black dress with a matching cropped tuxedo blazer and black heels with bows tied around her ankles. Meanwhile, Righton opts for an olive green button-up and a black suit, which he pairs with dress shoes.
June 8, 2021: Keira opens up about spending the pandemic with her family.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar U.K., Knightley talks about trying to boost morale for her family by dressing up during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have a trampoline in our garden, and we decided we were only allowed to wear dresses on it,” she says. “I put on red lipstick every day, and every bit of Chanel that I have in my cupboard, and my daughter Edie had Chanel ribbons plaited into her hair and fairy wings.” Righton was only allowed to join when he wore one of his “array of peacock-colored Gucci suits.”
Knightley continues by adding, “I thought, ‘What is the point of these lovely things sitting in the wardrobe, when it feels quite apocalyptic and scary outside?’ It felt so important to be really happy for the kids! And so you’d do it, and you’d forget—and then the shopping would arrive and you’d have to wipe it all down before you put it away, do you remember? It got to an extreme when I found these weird, brown apples and my husband said he’d boiled them, because people might have touched them. I said, ‘Right, but now we can’t eat them!’ That was a really weird time, us dressed in really bright clothes, boiling apples!”
September 13, 2019: The couple welcome their second daughter.
Knightley and Righton secretly welcome their second daughter, Delilah Knightley Righton, that September, with neither revealing the news publicly until October.
In an interview with The Telegraph the following month, Knightley confirms Delilah’s name and talks about her breastfeeding experience, saying, “We’re going to be apart for six hours in total, so I pumped three feeds’ worth,” she says of using a breast pump, jokingly adding, “If I don’t do it my boobs will explode. I mean, quite literally. It’s going everywhere.”
May 2, 2019: Keira reveals her second pregnancy.
While exiting the Chanel J12 cocktail party in Paris, Knightley sports a cream scoop-neck gown with a long transparent skirt, which emphasizes her growing baby bump. With this subtle move, the actor reveals to the world that she and Righton are expecting their second child, four years after they welcomed Edie.
May 26, 2015: Keira gives birth to their first daughter.
May turns out to be a lucky month for the couple when, mere weeks after their second wedding anniversary, Knightley gives birth to their first child, Edie Knightley Righton.
On being a mother, Knightley tells Elle, “The love thing is astonishing. It’s a very primal, primal love. That’s quite extraordinary.” As for the tough parts though, she adds, “And the ability to have no sleep and continue going. It’s not pleasant—I never thought that I could actually do it for the amount of time that I’ve done it.”
February 2015: Keira shows off her baby bump at the Oscars.
Knightley shows off her growing baby bump when she attends the 2015 Academy Awards with Righton, where she rocks a tan Valentino dress featuring a tulle skirt covered in floral embroidery and French script.
December 2014: Keira gets pregnant with their first child.
A little over a year and a half after tying the knot, Knightley and Righton get some exciting news when they learn that they are expecting their first child. The update is shared by outlets like People, Us Weekly, and CBS News.
December 3, 2013: Keira recycles her wedding dress on the red carpet.
At only their second red carpet event together, Knightley rewears the Chanel minidress that she wore for their wedding back in May. The two walk the red carpet for the SeriousFun Children’s Network London Gala, which was held at The Roundhouse, and Knightley gives her wedding dress a surprise twist by adding a transparent long sleeve top underneath, which features floral embroidery snaking across the chest. She pairs the look with a set of golden strappy sandals.
September 7, 2013: James helps Keira prepare for a musical role.
When preparing for her musical film Begin Again, Knightley turns to her musical husband to help her get into character. She tells People, “He helped me try to learn the guitar, and I don’t think he’ll ever do that again. I’m terrible, and he may have found it too stressful.”
She jokingly adds that guitar playing was not for her, saying, “My fingers looked awful. They were callused and looked disgusting. I stopped playing and tried going back to it, but my fingers hurt too much, so I’m not going to do it again. I’ll let him do all the playing.” Soon after their quiet nuptials, the two keep the festivities going by heading to the French island of Corsica for their honeymoon. They are photographed taking a dip in the ocean, holding hands while taking strolls through the sand, and sharing kisses while enjoying several boat rides in the Mediterranean. After a year of engagement, Knightley and Righton exchange rings in the South of France with an intimate ceremony that, according to British Vogue, was only attended by 11 people. The ceremony takes place at the town hall in Mazan, and is followed by a reception at Knightley’s mother’s house, where a larger crew of 50 guests attend. For the wedding, Knightley wears a Chanel dress pulled from the brand’s 2006 spring/summer couture collection. The subtle silver minidress is composed of strips of tulle, and Knightley layers it under a white tweed jacket from Karl Lagerfield, and accessorizes with a pair of pink and gray ballet pumps. She adds a floral garland into her hair for a romantic touch. Later, the couple also have a secret ceremony for friends, where Knightley sports a ￡50,000 Valentino dress covered in flowers. In July 2014, she tells Elle UK, “I wore it for the ceremony we had just for our friends, in a wood, because you have to have flowers on a dress in a wood.” After just a year of dating, Reuters confirms that Knightley and Righton are engaged, when Knightley’s publicist, Sara Keene, tells the outlet: “I can confirm that Keira is engaged to be married to James Righton.” Righton proposed with a circular diamond engagement ring set on a thin gold band. In an interview with The Guardian, Knightley reveals that she and Righton first met when they were introduced by a mutual friend named Tim, not a certain celebrity that has often been incorrectly assumed. “[We met] through our mate Tim, not Alexa Chung, as people keep telling me,” she said, adding, “We were very drunk.” It may have been that Knightley was drawn to Righton’s gregarious personality, as she told The Guardian: “He’s the sort of person who will be the brightest light in any room whereas I’m the one who sits in the corner. And he’s much nicer than me.”
May 13, 2013: They honeymoon in Corsica.
May 4, 2013: The couple tie the knot in the South of France.
May 2012: James pops the question.
2011: They meet at a dinner party.
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