We never really know what goes on behind closed doors, especially when it comes to the lives of celebrities. Even when they seem like they’re thriving both personally and professionally, they can actually be at rockbottom, barely able to keep afloat.
This was certainly the case for beloved actress Kirsten Dunst, who recently revealed that she checked herself into a rehab facility at the age of 25, after realising she was depressed and was struggling with repressed anger. At this point in her career, she’d already starred in some of her biggest films, including Bring It On and The Virgin Suicides.
Two years after filming Marie Antoinette and just one year after starring in Spider-Man 3, Dunst checked herself into Utah’s Cirque Lodge treatment centre in February, 2008. She didn’t film a single movie in 2009, and returned to the screen in 2010 for All Good Things.
“I feel like most people around 27, the shit hits the fan,” the actress told The Sunday Times in recent interview.
“Whatever is working in your brain, you can’t live like that anymore mentally. I feel like I was angry.”
After first appearing on screen at the tender age of 6, by age 25 she was burnt out both mentally and emotionally.
“You don’t know that you are repressing all this anger,” she continued. “It wasn’t a conscious thing,” the 39-year old told the publication.
“It’s hard to talk about such a personal thing, but it is important to share too,” Dunst said. “All I’ll say is that medication is a great thing and can really help you come out of something. I was afraid to take something and so I sat in it for too long. I would recommend getting help when you need it.”
In a 2010 interview with New York Magazine, Dunst spoke about the struggles of living alone in Hollywood, and the harsh criticism she received for her performance in Marie Antoinette.
“You grow up in a business where there’s a lot of people-pleasing. It’s hard to be firm in your own ground and not be afraid to rock the boat,” she told the magazine.
“I was swallowing a lot of stuff…In my relationships and personal life I absorbed things from other people, and then because of what I do for a living, I had to keep giving. It can dissolve you.”
In her recent interview with The Sunday Times, she told them that she became a “different person” after this period in her life.
Fast forward 13 years, and Kirsten now says she feels freer than ever. She met her now-partner Jesse Plemons on the set of Fargo in 2015, and the pair now share two sons — Ennis, 3 and James who was born in September of this year.
“I think as a performer you put yourself out there more [after having a child],” Dunst told The Sunday Times.
“You put yourself on the line because you have nothing to lose. It doesn’t really matter. And to show everything of yourself is a brave thing and a beautiful thing.”
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