Winona Ryder has revealed she was pressured by female directors to slow down signs of ageing in the early days of her career.
The actress, 53, was just 15 years old when she landed her first big film role in the film Lucas, before being catapulted to stardom aged 16 after starring in 1988’s Beetlejuice.
In a new interview with ELLE UK, Winona opened up on other females in the industry advising her to slow down signs of ageing.
She also revealed it feels strange working with ‘woman who get weird shit done’, alluding to cosmetic surgery and fillers.
When asked how she feels about ageing, Winona explained: ‘I don’t mind it. But what’s weird is when you’re surrounded by young women getting weird s*** done.’
‘I started my career as the youngest, and I always wanted to be older.
Winona Ryder has revealed she was pressured by female directors to slow down signs of ageing in the early days of her career
The actress, 53, was just 15 years old when she landed her first big film role in the film Lucas, before being catapulted to stardom aged 16 after starring in 1988’s Beetlejuice
‘I always knew I looked young. But I also knew that when I started ageing, it was gonna happen fast.’
On feeling pressure from female directors to slow down signs of ageing: ‘They’ll say, ‘Just relax your forehead. Relax.’ I’m trying to be a great actor, and they’re saying that over and over. It’s nice that people are talking about how it’s OK to age, but there’s still enormous pressure. Every role I get is for a mother, you know? My career has definitely shifted.’
During the cover shoot, Winona oozed confidence in a plunging black power suit, teamed with pointed heels.
In another shot, the Stranger Things star bundled up in a stylish pale pink jacket and matching midi skirt.
Elsewhere during the interview, Winona opened up about being sexually harassed by a director in the 90s.
‘He [the director] came up to me, and he was like, “OK, so, um, if we just try it like – you f*cking c*nt, I’m gonna destroy your f*cking life.” OK? So let’s just do it like that?” And I had to f*cking act. And what’s so crazy is my brother was working as a PA on the movie, and I didn’t even tell him, and I didn’t complain.’
While she would not divulge the identities of those who harassed her, she added that she didn’t realise the extent of her trauma until telling her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-star Jenna Ortega.
She said: ‘I was almost telling it like it was this funny story. Then I’m looking at Jenna [Ortega]’s face and imagining it happening to her. It wasn’t until that moment that I was like, “Oh my God, this is bad.”’
In a new interview with ELLE UK , Winona opened up on other females in the industry advising her to slow down signs of ageing
She also revealed it feels strange working with ‘woman who get weird shit done’, alluding to cosmetic surgery and fillers
When asked how she feels about ageing, Winona explained: ‘I don’t mind it. But what’s weird is when you’re surrounded by young women getting weird s*** done’
In what was just her third big screen role, Winona landed her big break in 1988 in the quirky horror Beetlejuice.
She starred as Lydia Deetz, the teenage goth who discovers her ability to see the dead, and is drawn into a marriage to the bio-exorcist Betelgeuse, who is desperate to return to the land of the living.
The September issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 31 July
Along with positive reviews, the film grossed a respectable $74.6 million at the box office, and has since become an 80s cult classic.
Ryder starred as Lydia Deetz when she was just 16 years old.
She has expressed in numerous interviews that she wasn’t one of the popular kids in school and unfortunately, matters only got worse for her after Beetlejuice.
‘I remember thinking, ‘Ooh, it’s, like, the number-one movie. This is going to make things great at school,” she told Marie Claire UK.
‘But it made things worse. They called me a witch.’
After Beetlejuice, she starred in the cult classic Heathers (1988) and played Jerry Lee Lewis’s cousin child bride Myra in Great Balls Of Fire (1989).
The 90s were a pivotal time for her as she starred in Little Women (1994), The Crucible (1996), and one of her most iconic films, Girl, Interrupted (1999), which won star Angelina Jolie an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
In what was just her third big screen role, Winona landed her big break in 1988 in the quirky horror Beetlejuice
Winona herself also received two Oscar nods in this time, one for The Age Of Innocence, and another for Little Women.
While Winona’s career was on a solid trajectory throughout the 90s, things took a drastic turn in 2001, when she was arrested for shoplifting.
She had allegedly stolen more than $5,000 worth of designer clothes and accessories from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
She was charged with grand theft and vandalism, but was acquitted on a burglary charge and ended up facing three years of probation, 480 hours of community service, $3,700 in fines and $6,355 in restitution to Saks along with mandatory psychological and drug counseling.
The incident ultimately lead to her taking another break from her career to pursue ‘other interests’.
Winona began her return to the spotlight with an unlikely cameo in the 2009 Star Trek reboot as Mr Spock’s mother, followed by the 2010 racy thriller Black Swan, starring as an bitter ballerina who is forced into retirement, to make way for a younger replacement.
But it wasn’t until Winona accepted the role as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things, starting in 2017, that she became a big name once more.
Winona’s starring role in the Netflix series Stranger Things relaunched her career, with the star earning an estimated $350,000 per episode by the show’s fourth season
‘I’ve been trying to sort of change this narrative with the kids, because they have it drilled into them that they’re so lucky. I’m like, “No. Netflix is so lucky. You guys are the special ones. Like, you guys are magic.”’
The fantasy series tapped into a trend of 80s nostalgia, and told the story of a sinister threat terrorising the town of Hawkins, after the disappearance of young Will Byers.
Winona was praised for her performance as the terrified mother Joyce, who is convinced a mysterious threat is reponsible for her son’s disappearance.
The show also kickstarted the careers of young stars including Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, and like Winona also helped to relaunch the career of star David Harbour.
On offering words of wisdom to the younger cast of Stranger Things, she told ELLE: ‘I was like, “This doesn’t happen. This is weird – the phenomenon. The work is the gift. That is why you’re doing it.’’ Which was what was instilled in me. And I think I was successful with some of them.’
‘I’ve been trying to sort of change this narrative with the kids, because they have it drilled into them that they’re so lucky and, you know, that this show “made” them. I’m like, “No. Netflix is so lucky. You guys are the special ones. Like, you guys are magic.”’
The September issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 31 July.
