Over the course of her three-decade career in Hollywood, Kirsten Dunst has appeared in more than 80 films, but she isn’t immune to the industry’s impossible beauty standards.
In a new Netflix video interview, the Oscar winner, 39, recalled “producers wanting to fix [her] teeth” — and revealed that Sofia Coppola, her director pal and longtime collaborator, helped her boost her self-esteem.
“It was the first time I was seen as a beautiful woman, and [to] have it be a female who gave me that,” Dunst said of her role in Coppola’s 1999 film “The Virgin Suicides.” In terms of how I felt about myself and my beauty at that age, it was very empowering.”
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Dunst, who went on to star in “Marie Antoinette” in 2006 and “The Beguiled” in 2017, made her feature directorial debut at the age of 16 in Coppola’s film.
“That’s a strange age,” the actress added. “She just instilled in me a lot of confidence, which I carried with me throughout my career when it came to producers wanting to fix my teeth… People are simply attempting to change and manipulate young actresses in order to homogenize them.”
“She made me feel beautiful for who I was,” Dunst concluded, “and that was a very pivotal time in my life for me to feel that way and be given that.”
In a November interview with The Independent, the actress revealed that one of the producers on 2002’s “Spider-Man” (in which she played Mary Jane) was the one who first encouraged her to straighten her teeth, even driving her to the dentist.
Dunst told the outlet that she refused to exit the vehicle. “I was like, ‘Mmmmm, no,’ because I liked my teeth,” she recalled. “Sofia also adored my teeth.”
