Winona Ryder has peeled back the curtain on some of the darkest chapters of her Hollywood career, revealing moments that still linger decades later.
The Beetlejuice star, now 53, reflected on how the industry has treated her through the years. She spoke about the pressures of aging in front of the camera and how roles have changed as she’s grown older.
“They’ll say, ‘Just relax your forehead. Relax,’” Ryder told Elle. “I’m trying to be a great actor, and they’re saying that over and over. Every role I get is for a mother, you know? My career has definitely shifted.”
Ryder has never shied away from unconventional roles. When she took on the now-iconic film Heathers as a teenager, she was warned it might end her career.
“I was told I was never gonna work again if I did Heathers,” she recalled. The backlash even cost her a part in The Freshman, a film starring Marlon Brando. “They thought it was making fun of teen s*icide… yeah, they revoked the offer. I wasn’t gonna apologise.”
But while losing a role was a setback, another experience would leave a much deeper scar. Ryder recalled reporting a director for being “inappropriate” on set, hoping producers would intervene.
What happened next stunned her. The following day, she said the director approached her right before a major scene and leaned in close.
“He came up to me, and he was like, ‘OK, so, um, if we just try it like – you fing c**, I’m gonna destroy your f*ing life. OK? So let’s just do it like that?’” Ryder revealed.
She didn’t tell her brother, who was working as a production assistant on the same film, and she didn’t file another complaint. She simply delivered the scene while carrying the weight of that threat.
Years later, Ryder told the story to Jenna Ortega on the set of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. At first, she spoke of it almost casually, as if it were a strange memory from her past.
But when she saw Ortega’s face, she realized something she had buried for years. “It wasn’t until that moment that I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is bad.’”
For Ryder, that chilling six‑word threat marked one of the most disturbing moments of her career, a reminder that even those with decades of success have endured the darker side of Hollywood’s power.
Featured image: (winonaryderofficial/instagram)
