Winona Ryder shot to fame in the late ‘80s and ’90s with roles in “Heathers” and “Edward Scissorhands,” but took a step away from the spotlight in the early 2000s.
In a recent interview with Esquire U.K., the actress spoke about how “difficult experiences” on set led to a change in her perspective on the industry.
“I had a couple of difficult experiences with a couple of people who were just blatantly sexually harassing me,” she told the outlet. “And then it happened again in my thirties. It wasn’t an assault. But it was incredibly inappropriate. It was wild… I was lucky because I was known, so it didn’t happen as much as maybe it would if I had been a struggling actor.”
Ryder explained constantly feeling as if she was “negotiating” and wondering what would happen if she expressed her discomfort, adding she was “working it out while” dealing with someone “extremely creepy.”
It was only when recounting her experiences to her “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” co-star Jenna Ortega that she realized, “Jesus Christ, that’s really f—ed up.”
“I think in retrospect, it really soured [her on making movies]. All the great actors always told me that when it stops being amazing, you gotta get out,” she explained. “I really took that to heart.”
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Further explaining the harassment she experienced, Ryder described others on set “being inappropriate or drunkenly hitting on” her, saying she would laugh it off in the moment. She told the outlet that she “dealt with that” but said “it felt very invasive” when people would touch her.
Ryder’s breakout role was playing Lydia Deetz in the original “Beetlejuice” (1988), when she was 15 years old. She would go on to star in “Little Women,” “Girl, Interrupted,” “Alien: Resurrection” and other films, before taking a step back from Hollywood following her 2001 arrest for shoplifting.
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The Academy Award-nominated actress was arrested in December 2001 for shoplifting $5,500 worth of clothes from a retail store in Beverly Hills. She told the outlet the arrest “definitely had a giant effect” on her career and was part of the reason she stepped away.
“It’s so funny, because there’s so much lore around that story, but it really couldn’t have been more of me thinking I’m going to my car to get something,” Ryder said. “I just remember being told I was going to go to prison. I was like, ‘Huh? What are you talking about?’”
Following her arrest, Ryder says she “checked out.” After receiving three years’ probation, a fine and mandated community service, she moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco, acting sparingly during that time.
Once she returned to Los Angeles, she felt “there was a shift in the industry” since she had been away and “the culture about what became acceptable and what became rewarded” was different.
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“There was a period when I was not in season,” she said. “It was like 10, 12, 15 years, and it did coincide with everything that happened [in her life] but also, if you look at the period from 2000 to 2010: wow! It was the most degrading time to be a woman. Even the cool people were participating in what felt like it should be off-limits.”
It wasn’t until Ryder landed the role of Joyce Byers in Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things” in 2016 that she was brought back to mainstream fame.
“I’ve gone from being the youngest person on set to being the oldest,” she says, “And I’m not oblivious in any way about the reason they came to me for it. I know there is an element of nostalgia [to her casting]. I am aware.”
