Keira Knightley Topless Photo a Publicity Stunt?

Keira Knightley is still talking about that topless photo of her that graced the cover of Interview magazine in September.

The LA Times opines that when a woman bares her breast for public viewing, she's doing it because she's proud of her body and wants people to see it.

But Knightley is saying that she agreed to bare her bosom in public as a form of protest in what she term as 'media manipulation' of women's bodies, cited the report.

The Guardian also added that Knightley agreed to do the topless photo shoot on the condition that her breasts would not be Photoshopped or retouch.

"I think women's bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame," says Keira in an interview with the UK Times, obviously alluding to artificially perfect images of women in photos and magazines.

"I've had my body manipulated so many different times for so many different reasons, whether its paparazzi photographers or for film posters. And that (shoot) was one of the ones where I said: 'Okay, I'm fine doing the topless shot so long as you don't make them any bigger or retouch.' Because it does feel important to say it really doesn't matter what shape you are," explained Keira to the UK Times.

To view Keira Knightley's topless photo that appeared in Interview magazine, click here.

Not Buying It

But the LA Times is not buying Keira's supposed reason for doing the topless photo shoot.

The report hinted that it (the shoot) could be a publicity stunt for an upcoming movie that would hit theaters this November.

"It is impossible not to notice, but Knightley's social protest (pronouncements) were nicely timed to coincide with the pending release of her new movie, 'The Imitation Game,' due in theaters later this month," the LA Times enthused.

"It's also impossible not to notice that -- ahem - Knightley looks fantastic on that (Interview magazine) cover," it described.

Hadley Freeman of The Guardian appears to be one with the LA Times opinion, when she wrote: "While I wholeheartedly approve of Knightley's purpose here, I am just quite not convinced that being photographed topless in a magazine is the way to go about fighting against the tyranny or perfection placed on women about their bodies. She actually did not explain in the interview in the magazine why she is topless."

 "So please come clean. You're exposing your breasts in public because you think you look great that way and you want people to look at you. Forget those flimsy fig leaves of moral justification," suggests LA Times.