NEW YORK (AP) — Keira Knightley feels having a child has changed the way she approaches her career — for the better.

That’s one of the reasons the actress felt comfortable making her Broadway debut in the title role of “Therese Raquin.”

“I think motherhood puts everything into perspective, I really do,” Knightley said at the play’s Broadway opening on Thursday.

Knightley and her husband became the parents of a little girl named Edie earlier this year. So when she returned to work, it was in a play she had passed on doing on numerous occasions.

“I’ve been offered it a bunch of times and I’ve always gone, ‘Well, this is scary and this is really difficult,” Knightley said. “I still find it terrifying, but why not give it a go,” Knightley said.

Knightley stars in the title role of Emile Zola’s melodrama as a detached wife who finds passion in the arms of another man, with disastrous consequences. Knightley said the content was “scary and difficult,” at times, and the role “challenging.”

The actress attributes motherhood as a being a catalyst for finding the courage to take on the play.

“I’m very grateful to become a mother while doing something this unbelievably difficult, because honestly the worst that could happen is that you fail,” Knightley said

She added: “You try your best and I’ve been really lucky that I have had the opportunity to be working and finding interesting things, and working with interesting people while being a mom at the same time.”

So it’s no longer about success of failure for Knightley. “Ultimately as long as my kid is all right, everything is fine.”

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Online: http://www.roundabouttheatre.com

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