Keira Knightley has opened up about her relationship with rock musician husband James Righton, saying marriage "seemed like a fun thing to do" but when she tried to change her name "I found I couldn’t do it."

In a candid cover interview in the July edition of Glamour, the 29-year-old Anna Karenina actress said she had second thoughts on altering her surname to match her husband's.

"I went to do the passport thing," she explained. "’Cause I was thinking, Shall I do it? It will be helpful. But you actually have to see it written down, and I found I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go there. Yet."

Keira Knightley and her husband James Righton at a charity gala in December last year

Knightley famously wore a recycled Chanel tulle dress to tie the knot with 30-year-old Righton in a low-key ceremony in the south of France last year, with celebrations afterwards at her parent's house in Provence.

But the Hollywood star said she hadn't always been a fan of getting hitched:

"Actually my parents kept saying, “Why bother?” I think they only [got married] to get a mortgage. [Laughs.] But when James proposed, I just thought, Well, never done that before. It seemed like a fun thing to do."

"You want to be slightly part of each other’s world so you can see what makes them tick," she added of her marriage to the Klaxons frontman. "If one person is on tour for three months and the other’s on a film set, your lives become very separate. It’s tricky. You should have your own thing, but equally you have to build a life together."

Keira Knightley in Chanel at Tribeca Film Festival in April this year

Knightley, who is currently promoting her new romantic comedy flick Begin Again with Adam Levine, also alluded to her sense of discomfort on the red carpet.

"I deal with it by thinking that the person on the red carpet is entirely separate from the person I am in my day-to-day life, and from the person I am on the film set or when somebody recognizes me on the street," she said. "Um, it’s obviously not the healthiest way of doing it or the happiest way of doing it, because when all those worlds collide, it can all get a bit schizo, but it is the only way I think I can [live]."

Referring to the negative reaction she attracted from some fashion critics with the Chanel embellished top she wore to Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year [below], Knightley went on:

"When we were getting ready that evening, we were all going, 'They’re soooo going to hate me in this, but they’re so wrong.' Apparently the reason they were so mean was because they thought the dress was unsexy. I wasn’t intending to be sexy. This idea you have to be sexy on the red carpet - that dress made me very happy."

The recycled Chanel dress Keira wore to her wedding last year

Knightley, who found fame in 1999's Star Wars and 2002 Brit comedy Bend It Like Beckham, revealed that she struggled growing up in the spotlight and only really came into her own aged 25.

"There are those who manage that time of their lives really well - doing a lot of partying and making a lot of mistakes and thinking the world is only there for you, but I was way too introverted, and there was always this s***load of photographers, who made it worse," she said.

"When I hit 25, for some reason I didn’t care anymore - I allowed myself to chill out. Since then, everything’s been amazing."

And it seems the actress keeps a relatively modest lifestyle, as she confirmed rumours that she limited herself to a salary of $50,000 a year (£29,000) - compared to her estimated net worth of $50 million (£30 million).

"I think living an [expensive] lifestyle means you can’t hang out with people who don’t live that lifestyle," she said. "It alienates you. Some of my best, most hilarious times have been in the least luxurious places."

Photos: Rex Features