Kirsten Dunst was told to fix her teeth—we’re glad she didn’t

Hollywood can be a cruel place, especially for women, and especially when it comes to narrow beauty standards.

Case in point? Kirsten Dunst, the unflappable starlet of movies like Melancholia and The Virgin Suicides, was told by someone on the set of Spiderman that she needed to get her teeth fixed.

“I was like: ‘No, my teeth are cool!’” the 33-year-old actress said in an interview with the UK’s Observer.

“The biggest fault for any actor is vanity, and I’ve never fallen prey to that. I don’t think about it. Sometimes I should, because I look at myself and I’m like: ‘Urgh, I gained a little weight’ or whatever. But I think about that after the fact. When I’m acting, I just don’t care.”

And we love that she doesn’t.

It drives home an important point. Even in image-conscious Hollywood, women don’t need Invisalign to feel beautiful – look at other actresses like Uzo Aduba of “Orange Is the New Black” or Anna Paquin, or heck, even Madonna. Each has noticeable gaps in their smiles, but we think it makes them unique and sets them apart from other people.

Plus, diastemas (or spaces between your teeth) is really a symbol of power. In the 14th century, having a gap in your smile meant you were sensual and adventurous, and in France, the gap is called “lucky teeth.”

That’s all to say that there’s no such thing as “perfection,” that the concept of beauty varies depending on where and when you live, and what makes you unique is actually something to be treasured, not “fixed.”

So big props to Kirsten for sticking with her natural smile and totally bucking the narrow beauty standards Hollywood reinforces.

(Image via Shutterstock)