The actress has recently reprised her role as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel and acknowledges she is a "workaholic."
The 21-year-old, who is dating her Pride and Prejudice co-star Rupert Friend, wants to free up more time to focus on her personal life.
Knightley says, "I know I've been like a workaholic and I really don't have time for much. My greatest fear is that I'll wake up at 50 and will have worked a lot but won't have lived. The last five years have blended into one. I can't tell you what was last year and what was the year before.
"It's just one big, long film set. In some ways that is wonderful. I love my job. I really love what I do. But I'm quite frightened that if I continue at this rate I will start to hate what I love. I don't want that to happen. So I need to step away and do a sort of sabbatical"
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