January 13, 2011 (Sampurn Wire): British actress Keira Knightley has reportedly split from her boyfriend of five years Rupert Friend after going through a heart to heart talk with him just before Christmas 2010.

The actress who is well remembered for her role in Bend It like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean: The curse of the Black Pearl, had met Rupert exactly five years ago while filming together.

It was in 2005 during the filming of the film adaptation of the classic Pride and Prejudice that the two Keira and Rupert had met and eventually fallen in love.

According to media reports the star has had quite a painful split despite having gone through with it mutually and in good spirits. Both have however stated that they would remain friends for ever.

But what exactly was the problem between the two? Going by the several reports it seems like Rupert was not quite comfortable with so much media attention and to be followed everywhere and be clicked by shutterbugs for every little thing was kind of getting on to him too much. Now considering the great popularity of Keira Knightly and the prominent media attention that the star gets every time shes up to something new or appears in public, this point of not being followed by the media was just not feasible in the actress set of rules.

Thus the two were left with no choice but to split from each other. This break up has reportedly quite saddened the star.

However Keiras upcoming projects could also include a pivotal role in The Dark Knight Rises amongst other roles which should see her quite busy in the year meeting up with shooting schedules, leaving very little time to cry over the matter.

-- Niky Sharma / Sampurn Wire