Kirsten Dunst opens up about nickname from Spider-Man set

Kirsten Dunst has revealed the nickname she was given while filming Spider-Man.

The 41-year-old actress has recalled being nicknamed "girly-girl" during the filming of 2002's Spider-Man.

"I mean...It was a joke, but on Spider-Man, they would call me 'girly-girl' sometimes on the walkie-talkie. 'We need girly-girl,'" she said in a new interview with Marie Claire.

The actress noted that although she didn't like the nickname, she felt powerless to defend herself.

"I never said anything," Kirsten said, adding, "like, don't call me that."

According to Marie Claire, the Marie Antoinette star explained it took time for her to realise her self-worth as a young woman in Hollywood.

"You didn't say anything," she said of being put down. "You just took it."

Kirsten played Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man, 2004's Spider-Man 2 and 2007's Spider-Man 3 alongside Tobey Maguire, who portrayed the titular character.

Elsewhere in the interview, Kirsten opened up about her recent two-year hiatus from acting.

"To be honest, that's been hard for me...because I need to feed myself," she admitted. "The hardest thing is being a mom and...not feeling like, I have nothing for myself. That's every mother - not just me. There's definitely less good roles for women my age."

Kirsten has two children, sons Ennis, five, and James, two, with her husband, actor Jesse Plemons.

The actress is set to return to acting with her new film Civil War, out on 26 April.