Spencer: The Secret Behind Those Giant Pearls Kristen Stewart Ate at the Holiday Dinner

Kristen Stewart's dedication to her role as Princess Diana in "Spencer" was nothing short of spectacular, capturing the anger and heartbreak of the late British royal in a way that sheds some light on her well-known story. In recognition of her incredible performance, Stewart was nominated for best actress in a leading role as part of the 2022 Oscars nominations announcement on Feb. 8. But one startling scene from the film left us with more questions than answers. During a tense holiday dinner, Diana clutches the pearls around her neck — a Christmas gift from Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) — and yanks them off, sending the individual pearls soaring into her bowl of soup and her mouth. Seething, Diana continues to eat, chewing around the oversize jewels like a single nibble wouldn't break all of her teeth in real life.

Thanks to the help of some movie magic, Stewart's teeth are perfectly fine, and what she was actually crunching on sounds pretty sweet, according to "EW".

Breaking decorum is a notable offense in the company of royals, which begs the question: did the IRL Princess Diana actually tear off her necklace at the dinner table? Promoted as a "fable from a true tragedy," the biopic is openly fictionalized in more ways than one, which means it's unlikely that much of what happened in the film — especially the pearl-eating scene — actually happened.

Reflecting on the strange scene, Stewart implied that the moment, as it was presented in the movie, could have even been a daydream, conveying Diana's unexpressed feelings about the dinner party. "There are just certain things you can't know that happened behind closed doors," she told "EW." "You don't know what happened within [her] privacy, but also fully embedded in her subconscious and her fantasies and her nightmares and her dreams, all of that."

No, eating real pearls wasn't in Stewart's contract for the film. Instead, she snacked on something much tastier: giant, customized candies. "It was chocolate, so I was actually very conscious of not showing that and keeping my mouth closed," she said. To add to the drama of the scene, Stewart suggested that the sound mixers for the film add in an extra-audible "crack" sound that would make even an ASMR-lover shiver. "I saw a cut of that scene and they hadn't mixed the crunching [noise], they had taken it down," she said. "So [the sound mixers] were like, 'Oh, but you can hear it, it sounds like M&Ms!' And I was like, 'Yeah but imagine if it was really audible, that crack.' And so they put it back in."

That's one mystery solved, but we will absolutely be thinking about that loud crunch next time we listen to the "Spencer" soundtrack.