Kirsten Dunst talks to Net-A-Porter’s weekly digital magazine, PorterEdit, about embracing her post-baby body, why she hasn’t married her “soul mate”, and her reasons for returning to work five months after giving birth.

Actress and producer Kirsten Dunst talks to NET-A-PORTER’s weekly digital magazine, PorterEdit, about the difficulty of returning to work five months after having her son Ennis, now one, and caring not one bit about her changing shape: “I want to look nice for how I look now. There was a time when I was like, ‘Shit! I don’t fit into anything anymore.’ I just bought clothes in the size I am now. I don’t care!”

The Spider-Man and Fargo star, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years, credits her long career with giving her a sense of perspective. “The benefit of growing up with [celebrity] is that I have a very healthy perspective of being an actress,” she says. “I haven’t worked out once since I had my baby. I’m not one of those people who says [affects a funny voice], ‘Ohhh, I have to get my abs back’. I feel like I’ve established myself as an actress. I have a healthy amount of vanity that hasn’t tipped into something really destructive. I want to find parts where I don’t have to be that person, and I have plenty of role models. Look at Patricia Arquette.”

Dunst claims to have had a strong sense of self since she worked with screenwriter and director Sofia Coppola, who fostered her positive self-image when she was still young. “I worked with Sofia when I was a teenager, and she said, ‘Don’t fix your teeth. People will tell you to fix them, but you’re beautiful. You don’t need to.’ Later, when I was working on Spider-Man, people were recommending a dentist. I would think, ‘Well, Sofia likes my teeth. She’s so natural, so chic and feminine, and she’s directing movies. If she thinks I’m pretty, I’m pretty.’”

Dunst also talks about falling pregnant – “I thought I would have a hard time getting pregnant, but it was a surprise. If I hadn’t met Jesse [Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons] I would have frozen my eggs. [But] it feels like I lucked out” – and why she has not yet married the man she calls her “soulmate”: “We’re about as married as you can get. We have a kid together. My mom was like, ‘But when are you guys getting married?’ And I said, ‘Mom, I’m not going to get married when I’m pregnant. I want to have fun and have a drink. I mean, we’re paying for this wedding. I’m paying for the bar! I want to enjoy it.’ [My mom is] kind of old school that way.”

Dunst admits that returning to work, on the hotly anticipated TV series On Becoming a God in Central Florida, was exhausting: “I cried to my mother-in-law in the second week; it was the hardest job I’ve ever taken, right after five months off with a baby. I was so tired. I would bring home a tuna sandwich from the craft services table. I would take a bath, and then eat my sandwich in bed while I read the pages and learned lines for the next day.”

However, she says the role of Krystal Stubbs – a struggling young mother circa 1990 whose life is ruined by a pyramid scheme – was too good to refuse. And one of the benefits of producing the show, as well as starring in it, was the opportunity to hire her trusted friends, such as fellow actor Alexander Skarsgård. “I wanted to surround myself with people I knew. I did feel kind of vulnerable going back to work this hardcore so soon after the baby.” Beyond that, she just wanted the best the industry had to offer: “I thought, who’s in Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies? Let’s get them!” she laughs. “That’s my trick! He’s the gold standard.”

For PorterEdit’s shoot, Dunst was photographed by Annelise Phillips and styled by Helen Broadfoot. The LA shoot captures freedom and energy, with Dunst wearing Gucci, Chloé, Simone Rocha, Miu Miu and more. All items can be purchased straight from the magazine’s pages via the NET-A-PORTER app, available on Android as well as iPhone and iPad, and through www.net-a-porter.com.

Other interview highlights

Dunst on trusting her gut when meeting her now-fiancé Jesse Plemons on the set of Fargo: “(I) knew he was going to be a soulmate. He’s my favourite actor; the best I’ve ever worked with. I just knew he would be in my life forever. I didn’t know what capacity that would be at the time. When the show was over, I just missed him terribly. We didn’t get together until a year later. We were both smart enough that we were wondering if the connection was just because we were working together. But it was real.”

Dunst on hiring trusted friends to work with on returning to acting after the birth of her first baby: “I wanted to surround myself with people I knew. I did feel kind of vulnerable going back to work this hardcore so soon after the baby.”

Dunst on reading the role of Krystal Stubbs in On Becoming a God in Central Florida: “I had read a lot of TV shows for women, and I just didn’t want to be crying every day. You know what I mean? I didn’t want to be doing something to a man, only reacting to a male character or having a man do something to me. This woman is her own character. She is doing her own thing.”

Dunst on not caring about vanity when it comes to roles and losing herself in the character: “I don’t really look in the mirror and see Kirsten when I’m working. I have to set a look for a part and just forget about it. I don’t care how I look.”

Dunst on creating the look of Krystal Stubbs in On Becoming a God in Central Florida: “I had braces on my teeth, and that hair. I’d get a spray tan every Sunday, then I’d get my acrylic nails fixed.”

Dunst on not being in a hurry to see her son follow in her footsteps as a child actor: “If you have a kid who’s very cute, I get why people do it. Do a Gap ad and you can make your college money. It’s the first time I kind of understand it. Ennis is so adorable, with two big dimples. He is such a happy baby and I see why I might want that memento of him at this age. But we will probably just encourage him to do school plays.”

Dunst on not having regrets about her professional childhood and making a point of working with female directors: “I always went with what I wanted to do: I wanted to be around girls my age, and work for people I trusted. I went to normal schools. My mom always came with me on location and brought the pasta maker and made me feel really comfortable.”

Read the full interview on PorterEdit here

Exert courtesy of Net-A-Porter