Right as Kirsten Dunst checks into Cirque Lodge for rehab, Eva Mendes checks out. And really, can you blame her? I wouldn’t want to share my rehab celebrity either. That’s a special time in a celebrity’s life. I’m kidding, I’m sure it’s just a weird coincidence. The news leaked last week that Eva had checked into rehab several weeks ago to attend to what’s variously been described as “personal issues” and a “well-hidden substance abuse problem.” I’m going to guess the latter is a little more accurate. So while “personal issues” supposedly brought Eva into rehab, “personal business” is taking her out of it – temporarily, according to her rep. But her rep’s also the one that called a substance abuse problem a personal issue, so she might just liberally attach the word “personal” to anything she wants to form some vague cover.

Her rep tells Usmagazine.com, “Eva is attending to some personal business in Los Angeles and intends to return to complete her treatment shortly.” Mendes was struggling with a well-hidden substance abuse problem, including cocaine use, sources close to the actress tell Us Weekly in its latest issue.

“She kept it all behind closed doors and wasn’t really a mess in public,” an insider told Us. The pressures of Tinsletown… fueled the fire: she fell into a hard partying crowd at the Hollywood club now known as Teddy’s, where her longtime boyfriend, producer George Augusto, used to DJ. “She has a lot of low self-esteem and body issues,” said a pal.

Another insider said, “For a lot of girls in Hollywood, cocaine makes them feel more confident and stay skinny.” But Mendes, who just wrapped 2009 action flick The Spirit (co-starring Scarlett Johansson) and told Us last fall that she wanted “to be known for her work,” knew she needed to get well to improve professionally. “She pulled away from that crowd last year to focus on her career,” says a source, adding that treatment was a vital step to recovery. “She wants to be healthy.”

[From Us Weekly]

I’m always a little surprised when rehab facilities let someone leave for any reason, unless it’s a major family tragedy or something. Of course they cannot force someone to stay either. It’s really hard to know what’s going on with Eva – while her movies do well enough and people generally know her name, she’s not a fixture in the gossip columns. It sounds like Us is saying it’s a combination of some mental health issues and substance abuse problems. Eva is truly a knockout, but that’s not always easy for someone to see in herself. Hopefully she really will go right back to rehab and get better.

Picture Note by JayBird: Here’s Eva unveiling her advertisement for PETA on December 20th. Images thanks to PR Photos.