After break up with Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder says she had to see a therapist: ‘I just wasn’t taking care of myself’

Winona Ryder’s career has seen a second wind over the last few years, largely due to her starring role in Stranger Things. But the actor was once among the most promising young talents in Hollywood. In the late 80s and early 90s, she was engaged to another rising star at the time–Johnny Depp. In a recent interview, Winona addressed how the break up with Johnny affected her all those years ago. Also read: Johnny Depp was never abusive towards me at all: Ex-fiance Winona Ryder

Winona and Johnny Depp met at the premiere of Great Balls of Fire! in 1989 when she was 17 and he was 26. They were engaged for three years before their break up in 1993. Johnny famously got his ‘Winona Forever’ tattoo changed to ‘Wino Forever’.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Winona talked about how the break up and intense media spotlight affected her. “That was my Girl, Interrupted real life,” she said, referring to her 1999 film about a girl in a mental asylum. She added, “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). I would look at these fake bruises and cuts on my face (during 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.”

Winona added that her 1993 film The Age of Innocence’s co-star Michelle Pfeiffer was among those who noticed it. “I remember Michelle 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,” she said. The actor credits an ‘incredible therapist’ to help her get out of that rut.

Winona first gained prominence with her performance in the 1989 film Beetlejuice and went on to appear in several critically-acclaimed films like The Age of Innocence, Little Women, and Girl, Interrupted. Her career declined in the 2000s and she took a break from films, returning with Star Trek in 2009. Since 2016, she has starred in Netflix’s huge hit Stranger Things.