"I remember the vomit, the blood, the stitches." Keira Knightley on Kate Middleton's 'perfect' birth.

Keira Knightley has criticised Kate Middleton’s post-birth appearance for the unrealistic standards it sets for women.

The comments come from her essay ‘The Weaker Sex’, which is part of the collection Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies); a book containing a number of essays by celebrities, including Emma Watson, writing about their thoughts on modern-day feminism.

In her essay, Knightley condemned the unreasonable and irrational standards placed on women after giving birth. The Hollywood actress has a three-year-old daughter Edie, with her husband James Righton.

“We stand and watch the TV screen,” the 33-year-old actress said.

“[Kate Middleton] 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."

She continues: “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."

Knightley expanded on the message this 'perfect picture' sends to women, saying it unfairly implies that we should focus on our aesthetically pleasing appearance.

“Don’t show. Don’t tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers,” Knightley penned in her powerful essay.

Writing to her daughter directly, Knightley continued: “My vagina split. 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.”

“I remember the sh-t, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving. And I am the weaker sex? You are?”

Knightley also brought to light the double standards which she says are pervasive in Hollywood, explaining how men and women are categorically treated differently.

“I turn up on time, word perfect, with ideas and an opinion. I am up with you [her daughter] all night if you need me. Sometimes I cry I’m so tired. Up with you all night and work all day … My male colleagues can be late, cannot know their lines. They can shout and scream and throw things. They can turn up drunk or not turn up at all. They don’t see their children. They’re working. They need to concentrate.”