It’s a struggle to sum up Kirsten Dunst’s career in a nutshell, but let’s just give it a try… 

 - Dunst is an actor who has taken on lead roles in critically acclaimed indie films and beloved blockbuster hits for over 20 years. 

- Dunst was one of the most prolific child actors of her generation, starring in Little Women, Jumanji and Interview with the Vampire. 

- In fact, Dunst was nominated for a Golden Globe when she was just 12 years old. 

- Dunst is a long-time collaborator with celebrated director Sofia Coppola. 

- Dunst recently received her Hollywood Walk of Fame star. 

- Dunst is currently promoting her highly-anticipated new TV series On Becoming a God in Central Florida.

Any of the above will do, because they prove what a modern film legend she is. And yet, one publication completely slighted the actor’s legacy of work in a single tweet. 

In a tweet which shared an article about Dunst’s Walk of Fame star, Reuters wrote: “Kirsten Dunst, best known for her role as Spiderman’s girlfriend, receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” 

Before we go any further, we’d first like to point out that it’s actually spelt Spider-Man. OK, next…

What a sexist, reductive way of describing one of Hollywood’s biggest working actors. Yes, it’s true that Dunst played Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy alongside Toby Maguire. And don’t get me wrong, I LOVED those films. But Mary Jane was more than just “Spider-Man’s girlfriend” and Dunst’s career is not solely down to that role.

What about her leading turn as teen queen Marie Antoinette? Or the enigmatic Lux Lisbon in The Vigrin Suicides? Or her part in the amazing Mona Lisa Smile cast, alongside the likes of fellow Hollywood royalty Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal?

There was an outcry from Twitter users, which led to the tweet being deleted. And Dunst has now responded to what happened during an interview while promoting her new TV series on Amerian show The Talk this week. 

“Well you know… I don’t really look at Twitter and stuff, so I’m not really a social media girl. But I was looking for the show and everything, and it felt like, you know, I read it too and was like ‘Yeah, that’s pretty s****y,” she said.

“So I was proud that my fans and everyone rallied around and supported me. It was a very ignorant tweet, and it was probably done very carelessly by a man.”

This isn’t the first time that Dunst has felt the need to stick up for her career recently. 

Earlier this month, she said she doesn’t “recognised” by her industry, and there was a lot of truth to her words. 

Speaking on Sirius XM’s In-Depth With Larry Flick, Dunst said: “The things that people [enjoy] are like, ‘Remember when Marie Antoinette [came out] – y’all panned it? And now you all love it,” she said.

“Remember Drop Dead Gorgeous? Panned. Now you all love it.’

“It’s interesting to me. I feel like a lot of things I do people like later. I’ve never been recognised in my own industry. I’ve never been nominated for anything. Maybe like twice for a Golden Globe when I was little and one for Fargo. Maybe they just think I’m the girl from Bring It On.”

We’re glad to see Dunst calling out her industry and the media for not showing her career the respect it deserves. It’s just bewildering to understand why she has to do it in the first place.

Images: Getty