Winona Ryder gets candid about her past spiral in Hollywood

Winona Ryder has had a career and reputation in Hollywood that has seen its share of successes and downfalls. The actress is on the other side of it now but after finding success beginning in the late ’80s and throughout the ’90s, her career hit a snag in 2001 when she was arrested for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. Ryder disappeared from the spotlight for a bit after that but she made a true comeback when she ended up heading to TV for Netflix’s Stranger Things, which became a global phenomenon. Now that she has had time to reflect, she is getting candid about her past spiral in Hollywood.

Winona Ryder admits she doesn’t like talking about herself but when she spoke to Harper’s Bazaar about having to come to terms with her past, she did get pretty candid. In fact, she spoke about the moment she realized she really wasn’t taking care of herself properly:

“That was my Girl, Interrupted real life. I remember, I was playing this character who ends up getting tortured in a Chilean prison [in the 1994 drama The House of the Spirits]. I would look at these fake bruises and cuts on my face [from the shoot], and I would struggle to see myself as this little girl. ‘Would you be treating this girl like you’re treating yourself?’ I remember looking at myself and saying, ‘This is what I’m doing to myself inside.’ Because I just wasn’t taking care of myself.”

Ryder fell in love with actor Johnny Depp back in 1989 after meeting him at the premiere of Great Balls of Fire! They would eventually both be cast in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands and, in the film, Ryder played a young girl who begins to see the titular character beyond his misunderstood nature. They form a sweet bond in the movie and it translated into real life. After five months of dating, the duo was engaged but they would break up after four years together. Despite the turbulent time in which they dated, Ryder has defended Depp during his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard by saying the idea of Depp ever being violent was one of the “farthest things” from the truth.

The actress also addresses her battle with mental health issues that began after her break-up with Johnny Depp. Ryder said she had support dealing with her problems from one of her former co-stars. Michelle Pfeiffer starred with Ryder in 1993’s The Age of Innocence and she offered up some advice that helped the actress get through her struggles:

I remember Michelle [Pfeiffer] being like, ‘This is going to pass.’ But I couldn’t hear it. I’ve never talked about it. There’s this part of me that’s very private. I have such, like, a place in my heart for those days. But for someone younger who grew up with social media, it’s hard to describe.

The arrest for shoplifting really did derail a successful run of films back in 2001. Her addiction to painkillers was believed to leave her disoriented which she said led to the unfortunate incident. The event made her disappear from Hollywood and she spent most of her time living in San Francisco. There were some films after the incident, like Mr. Deeds starring Adam Sandler, but she mostly wasn’t getting any big offers. Her career had stalled but it was her role on Netflix’s Stranger Things that turned things around for her. Ryder plays devoted mother Joyce Byers, whose son Will Byers goes missing during the first season. The actress received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her performance and the series reset a career that was certainly interrupted. Judging from her current state of mind, it would appear that Winona Ryder is in a very good place now and it has given her the opportunity to offer advice to her younger Stranger Things co-stars:

“I want the kids to understand, this does not happen,” she says of being on a show so zeitgeisty that people are clamoring for your attention. “This is really unusual. And I’m always telling them, ‘The work is the reward!’ Because when I was that age, it was so hard to enjoy the fruits of my labor.”

The Duffer Brothers, who created Stranger Things, also think that Ryder’s advice has been very beneficial to the young cast. The brothers said, “She’s talked to the kids about what celebrity is like and how the press can be and the anxiety and confusion that comes along with celebrity. I think she’s really helped them. I know she’s specifically helped Millie [Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven on the show] a lot to work through that. And that’s something that no one else can help with, really, because so few people have experienced it. It’s not something I understand. It’s not something that, you know, even a parent would understand.”

What are YOUR thoughts on Winona Ryder’s reflections on her past and present?