Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp may have parted ways long ago, but their romance still remains a fan-favorite for many. The golden couple of the 90s met at the ‘Great Balls of Fire!‘ premiere and began dating soon after. They got engaged after a three-year relationship, before calling it quits. While their paths haven’t crossed for a while now, the two were once innate parts of each other’s lives.
The couple did not comment on the breakup for a while when they separated. But in an interview that came after a considerable time span post their split, Winona clarified how deeply it had impacted her. She even went so far as to compare her situation with the aftermath of her film ‘Girl, Interrupted‘. Here’s what Ryder said at the time.
Winona Ryder Terms Her Break-Up With Johnny Depp As Her ‘Girl, Interrupted’ Moment
Winona Ryder looked back at her highly-publicized relationship with Johnny Depp during a 2022 interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “That was my ‘Girl, Interrupted‘ real life,” Ryder said, referencing the 1999 film she starred in and executive produced. The story was about a woman’s stay at a mental institution that was dedicated to helping troubled young women.
The ‘Stranger Things’ star told the outlet that she credits “an incredible therapist” for helping her practice self-care by imagining herself as a child. “I remember, I was playing this character who ends up getting tortured in a Chilean prison [in the 1994 film The House of the Spirits],” Ryder explained.
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“I would look at these fake bruises and cuts on my face [from filming], and I would struggle to see myself as this little girl. ‘Would you be treating this girl like you’re treating yourself?'” she explained.
The actress continued, “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.”
Michelle Pfeiffer Supported Winona Ryder During Her Rough Time
Winona Ryder further said that Michelle Pfeiffer, her ‘The Age of Innocence‘ co-star, supported her during her difficult time. “I remember Michelle being like, ‘This is going to pass,'” Ryder said. “But I couldn’t hear it. I’ve never talked about it. There’s this part of me that’s very private.”
That privacy was fortified when Ryder took a hiatus from Hollywood after her infamous arrest for shoplifting at a Saks Fifth Avenue in 2001. “I definitely retreated,” she said. “I was in San Francisco. But I also wasn’t getting offers. I think it was a very mutual break. It’s so interesting when you look at the early aughts. It was a kind of cruel time. There was a lot of meanness out there… And then I remember coming back to L.A. and it was a rough time. And I didn’t know if that part of my life was over.”
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Ryder has called Depp her “first real break up” and “first real heartbreak” in past interviews. Moreover, Depp has suggested that the media frenzy caused the split.
“It’s very hard to have a personal life in this town,” he told Los Angeles Times in 1993. “My relationship with Winona, it was my mistake to be as open as we were, but I thought if we were honest it would destroy that curiosity monster. Instead it fed it, gave people license to feel they were part of it.”
The two have not commented on their relationship in the recent past, though Depp has gained much attention for his infamous trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, which was televised due to its extent of controversy.
