The actress checked into a treatment facility in 2008 to be treated for depression, and has been open about her problems. She plays a woman called Justine with the mood disorder in Melancholia, a science-fiction movie directed by Lars von Trier. Her own battles with the illness were part of the reason she wanted to star in the release, for which she won the best actress prize at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
“I have experienced depression. Many people have. Mine was caused by a few things. I felt a lot of stress from all these different areas and I needed to… It’s delicate,” she told the September issue of UK magazine Elle. “You can go through many wrong doors before it gets right. I brought my own slant [to the role] but I am very much portraying Lars’ experience of depression. We met before I did the movie and talked about how the light goes out of your eyes. People don’t talk about depression, so for me it was really amazing that this was going to be portrayed.”
It’s thought relationships were one of the reasons Kirsten sought treatment, as she checked into Cirque Lodge in Utah months after splitting from musician Johnny Borrell. Now happily romancing Jason Boesel, who is also in the music business, the 29-year-old actress has mused about love. While many in her profession end up dating others in the movie industry, it’s not something she can ever imagine doing.
“I don’t think actors should ever be together. How can two actors ever make a go of it? If you do what I do, you get to meet all these amazing actors, musicians, artists. It sounds great but you can be swept away and I want marriage and children. Not yet. In a few years with a Jimmy Stewart kind of guy who is gentle, graceful, intelligent, someone who live his life by a set of rules,” she explained.