Knightley boyfriend backs ad appearance

Keira Knightley's boyfriend Rupert Friend has defended her appearance in a banned anti-domestic violence advertisement.

The Women's Aid commercial - which shows the actress being accused of having an affair, before she is thrown to the ground and repeatedly kicked by her boyfriend - was deemed too shocking for audiences.

"I think that banning an advert because it is shocking is quite the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. What is shocking is that women are getting hit. The point is to shock people," Friend said at the premiere of his new film Cheri.

Though the advert has already been viewed on YouTube and in cinemas, Clearcast, the body that censors adverts for Ofcom, ruled that the promo cannot be aired unless the violent scenes are removed.

Friend added that he has had experience of the issue focused on in the advertisement because his mother worked as a domestic abuse lawyer.

“So I've been involved on the very outskirts of the campaign to stop domestic abuse for some time," he told The Daily Telegraph.

Knightley and Friend have dated since they met on the set of the 2005 movie adaptation of Pride And Prejudice.