by KATIE HAMPSON, Daily Mail

Last updated at 15:38 19 July 2006

Much has been made of Keira Knightley's slender frame and relatively flat chest.

Indeed, Keira herself has spoken openly of not having breasts, but 'pecs', and said that she would die for a curvy body like Scarlett Johansson's.

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But in an extraordinarily revealing interview, the actress has told of how American audiences view her rather differently.

The 21-year-old star of the Pirates of the Caribbean films has spoken of her bemusement at being surgically enhanced by computer trickery in promotional material publicising her films in the US.

She says studio executives and magazine publishers have decided that instead of presenting her as she really is, she should be seen as a lot bustier in case her flat chest 'turned people off'.

The actress says her breasts were digitally boosted for the advertising campaign for her 2004 movie King Arthur.

She also claims magazine publishers in the US ban stars from appearing on their front covers unless they have at least a C-cup size, or are willing to be digitally enhanced to make it appear as if they have.

Keira, who played Guinevere in King Arthur, said her normal breasts were blown out of all proportion and looked droopy on the advert to promote the film.

'Those things certainly weren't mine,' she told a US magazine yesterday.

'I remember we had an interesting discussion when they said, "We want to make them slightly larger and you'll get approval" and I was like, "OK, fine. 'I honestly don't give a s***."

'But then they showed me the first copy and these things must have been double-Es - and they were down to my knees.

'And I was like, "I don't mind you making them bigger, but don't give me droopy breasts. They look like your grandmother's t***', the actress said.

She then went on to say the incident was certainly not the first time she has had her chest digitally enhanced.

She explained: 'I did one magazine and found out you're not actually allowed to be on a cover in the US without at least a C cup because it turns people off.

'Apparently they have done market research and found that women want to see no less than a C cup on other women. Isn't that crazy? 'So they made my t*** bigger for that as well.'

Miss Knightley's comments will be seen as refreshingly honest in an industry fettered by publicists and agents watching every word. the actress has an agent, but unusually, no publicist.