Kirsten Dunst isn't ashamed of struggling with depression. In an interview with Canadian fashion magazine Flare, the 29-year-old actress says she hopes to remove the social stigma of battling the clinical mood disorder.
"People are embarrassed to talk about it," Dunst tells Flare. "I would never put anyone down that was in that kind of space."
In 2008, the Spider-Man star admitted herself to the Cirque Lodge Rehab Center in Sundance, Utah. The actress was attempting to treat depression -- not a drug or alcohol problem, as was rumored at the time. Through her treatment, Dunst says she came to understand that dealing with depression isn't some abnormality.
"I think that most human beings go through some sort of depression in their life," she says. "And if they don't, I think that's weird."
Dunst's depression, she admits, even helped her professionally. For her role in Lars von Trier's critically acclaimed drama Melancholia, which earned her the best actress award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Dunst tapped into her own melancholy to channel the character's emotional range.
"It was really hard for me to watch because I don't recognize myself in parts of that film," Dunst explains. "It weirds me out a little bit. Like my voice change, this look in my eye. It scared me a little bit."
