Keira Knightley is suing the Daily Mail, claiming that the newspaper implied that she was misleading the public about whether or not she had anorexia and setting a bad example for teenage girls.

Lawyers for Knightley, the slender 21-year-old British star of Pirates of the Caribbean, Love Actually and Pride and Prejudice, issued a statement this morning saying the actress had decided to sue after the Daily Mail published an article on January 11.

The newspaper showed a photograph of Knightley in a bikini, next to the headline: "If pictures like this one of Keira carried a health warning, my darling daughter might have lived", and told the story of Sophie Ponomarenko-Jones, who died at the age of 19 after suffering from anorexia.

In the statement today, Knightley's solicitors, Schillings, said: "We wish to make clear that Ms Knightley has the deepest sympathy for the girl’s family."

"However, Ms Knightley has publicly denied suggestions that she might be anorexic or have a similar eating disorder, including in a prominent way at a well-publicised press conference to mark the European premiere of Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, in London last summer."

At the news conference, Knightley told journalists that women in her family had suffered from eating disorders but that she did not. "People said to me yesterday at the premiere 'How does it feel to be called anorexic?'

"I had no idea that I was. I can safely say that I'm not," she said.

In today's statement, lawyers acting for Knightley said the case would "argue that the Mail’s article suggests that she has dishonestly sought to mislead the public about whether she has anorexia or similar eating disorder and will show that she does not have anorexia".

The case will also "challenge the suggestion that she is responsible and to blame for the tragic death of the teenage girl by setting a bad example". The case is expected to come before London's High Court later this year, unless the newspaper chooses to settle.

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