Is snaggle-toothed actress Kirsten Dunst lying about why she checked into rehab? Back in February, the Spider-Man star put in a stint at the posh Cirque Lodge in Utah following a flurry of media reports that had her acting all sorts of crazy in public. Now that she's out and successfully rehabbed (well, sort of—an item in the Daily News notes she was acting "wobbly" at a New York bar this weekend), she's telling everyone that she initially sought treatment for depression, and not for drug and alcohol abuse like that other troubled, unemployable starlet and one-time Cirque inpatient, Lindsay Lohan. "I didn't go to Cirque Lodge for alcohol abuse or drug abuse. I went there for depression," she tells E!

And she very well might have been depressed! It's just that according to Cirque's "Admissions Guidelines," the facility doesn't treat patients for depression. In fact, being depressed might actually be grounds for non-admittance: "As much as possible, mental and emotional disorders should be stable prior to admission," reads the website.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Cirque told Radar, "Depression alone would not be grounds for admssion. We will treat individuals who are depressed, so long as they also have a substance abuse problem. We are a dual treatment facility."

So either Cirque made a special exception for Dunst (unlikely), or she's being a bit economical with the actualité. Why the duplicity? Well, for starters, depression is a far more sympathetic ailment than your standard booze or drug problem, so she's bound to engender more sympathy from the public. It also allows Dunst to separate herself from the Lohans and Spears of the world. Most importantly, though, using depression as an excuse allows her to "recover" in private. As she tells E!, "Depression is pretty serious and should not be gossiped about." So by playing up the mental sickness and hiding the booze and drug problem, she's giving (or at least trying to give) herself a pass with the press. Well-played, Kiki!

A rep for Dunst could not be reached for comment.