Winona Ryder: I love getting older, Ive been waiting so long for that to happen!
Winona Ryder covers the latest issue of The Edit. I love the cover, but I hate the photo of Winona in bed (at the end of the post). That bed photo brings up a question I’ve had about Winona for years: she got some work done at some point, correct? I feel like we already established that she got an eye job or some kind of eye work several years back. I bring this up because Winona claims that she “loves” getting older, and she pretty much says that she hasn’t had anything done. Although we could probably parse that quote pretty hard. You can read the full Edit piece here, and here are some highlights:
On fame: “Socially, I had a tough time at school; I was shy and different looking. It got so bad that in 7th grade I was homeschooled. When Beetlejuice came out and was a big hit, I thought, this will help me. [But then] people called me ‘witch’. But you know that thing, when you make one great friend, that can save you? Someone saved me.”
Jodie Foster’s advice: “In my first apartment in LA, Jodie Foster lived upstairs, and we’d do laundry together. She’s so smart. She told me to resist doing things that other people say you should do. Don’t be ‘strategic’! I was up for this movie, Mobsters, and everyone said I should do it. But Jodie said, ‘You have to feel very connected to something before you do it.’ So I turned it down. And it was a flop!”
Getting a real life: “It’s interesting: you can go through good times and bad times, but if you’re still working, people see you in a certain way. I was working a lot [in the ’90s] and I needed to slow down. It’s so important to have a life outside the industry, to not look to it to validate you as a human being. A lot of people had the perception that I just disappeared in the 2000s. And I did, but only from that world. I appeared elsewhere, I promise you. I was transformed into doing stuff I really wanted to do – it was a great awakening. It just wasn’t in the public eye.”
She loves getting older: “I love getting older. I think it has to do with always being the kid on set. It’s interesting because, these days, [cosmetic surgery] is treated almost like hygiene. I’ve had people say to me, ‘Oh, you should, you know…’ and they point to my forehead. ‘Get that seen to!’ But I’m like, ‘No! I’ve been waiting so long for that to happen!’”
She doesn’t see casting-ageism as a bad thing: “I know actresses have a tough time because of their age – they’re just not getting hired. I know it exists. You’re the girlfriend, then you’re the mother. But I don’t see it as a bad thing – it can be just as interesting, if not more so, than the leading-lady, ingénue phase.”
Serial monogamy: “I’m a serial monogamist. I was single for a while and dating and…I just didn’t know how to do it! I’ve always been like that: when I was 15, there was a guy I liked, and we made out, and I thought that meant he was my boyfriend. My mom had to explain it to me. But marriage? I don’t know. I’d rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there’s anything wrong with divorce, but I don’t think I could do it if that was a possibility. When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high. But I’ve been happily with someone for quite a while now.”
On social media: “I’m not on [social media]. I’m very private so I can’t imagine what I’d want to share with the world. I can’t even take selfies; I literally just learned about the button that makes the screen flip. I think [social media] is a bit dangerous, in terms of self-obsession. It’s so important to look outward.”
“But I don’t see it as a bad thing – it can be just as interesting, if not more so, than the leading-lady, ingénue phase…” I understand that she’s trying to make lemonade out of ageism lemons, but I do think she could have explained her point more: there are interesting characters for women of all ages and actresses shouldn’t be afraid to move from leading lady to character actress. That being said, there is a steep drop-off in roles for women past a certain age, especially in film. Which is probably why 44-year-old Winona is doing a Netflix series now.
Photos courtesy of The Edit.
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