Kirsten Dunst has been keeping a low profile after her stint in rehab earlier this year. She bought a $3 million apartment in Tribeca and has been filming All Good Things in NY and Connecticut with Ryan Gosling. Kiki was seen out at lunch with Gosling, which set the tabloids’ tongues wagging, but it wasn’t that impressive to me since they were probably just taking a break from work. Other than that there hasn’t been much news about her, and you hope she’s doing well.

This week’s Star has exclusive photos and a story about how Kirsten was knocking back rum and cokes at a bar. She doesn’t look falling down wasted in the photos, but she does look a little out of it. Star’s armchair psychologists (it takes one to know one, I’ll admit) say that she’s not over her three year-old breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal and that she was flirting with different guys all night. They also say she was there with friends, so she was probably just talking to them:

Kirsten Dunst has fallen off the wagon – hard! The actress took a break from the Connecticut set of All Good Things to belatedly celebrate her 26th birthday at the New York City bar Bowery Electric, where an eyewitness saw her slamming a whiskey shot and knocking back rum and Cokes…

But [Kirsten’s] hard work in rehab seemed to be the last thing on her mind and she drank and dance with a group of friends, including Ryan Michael Gentles, the manager of her ex Fabrizio Moretti’s band The Strokes.

Pals say part of Kirsten’s probably is her troubled love life. She’s still stinging over her 2005 split from Jake Gyllenhaal, and working side by side with short-lived flame Ryan Gosling on All Good Things isn’t helping. Now, sources say, Kirsten may be seeking solace in the bottle – and the arms of other men! “She got worse as the night went on,” says the witness. “She started out pretty chill, but hours later she was dancing and jumping around like a crazed animal!”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, May 26, 2008]

The article goes on to say that Kirsten was there with a guy with whom she “kept touching” and “snuggling with,” but that whenever he wasn’t around even for a moment she “indulged any guy who gave her attention” and “went up to several guys and started flirting with them hardcore.”

This is Star, so my money is on the fact that all they have are the photos of her talking with a guy at a bar looking pretty normal. A lot of people struggle with alcohol abuse in their mid to late 20s. It’s that weird in-between period when you’re supposed to take on more responsibility but you’re not quite sure what that entails yet, and you’re still kind of holding on to the wild past. Maybe it isn’t as bad as Star claims and Kirsten just indulged for her birthday. AA recommends that people abstain entirely, and you hope Kirsten knows when to say when. As long as she’s still able to do her job and isn’t driving or flashing the paps, that seems to be her business.

Thanks to Splash News for these photos of Kirsten on set yesterday.