Winona Ryder admits she didn’t handle her 1993 breakup with Johnny Depp very well, causing her mental health to take a toll.
The actress, 50, told Harper’s Bazaar that the split “was my ‘Girl, Interrupted’ real life,” a reference to her 1999 film in which she played a patient in a mental institution.
“I would look at these fake bruises and cuts on my face [while filming the 1994 drama ‘The House of the Spirits’], and I would struggle to see myself as this little girl,” she said.
In the midst of it all, she recalled telling herself, “Would you be treating this girl like you’re treating yourself? This is what I’m doing to myself inside.”
She added, “I just wasn’t taking care of myself.”
Ryder and Depp, 59, were deemed one of Hollywood’s hottest couples after they began dating in 1989. They had met at a film premiere and swiftly got engaged after just five months of dating.
Their relationship abruptly came to an end four years later after struggling with the intense media attention they were getting, but it wasn’t an easy decision. In a 2001 interview, The “Stranger Things” star described her relationship with Depp as “a fiercely deep love that I don’t know that I’ll ever [have again].”
She described the breakup as her personal version of “Girl, Interrupted.”Suzanne Tenner/Getty ImagesOn the other hand, Depp famously altered his “Winona forever” tattoo to read “Wino forever” in an effort to move on.
And despite Ryder never marrying after Depp, the “Nightmare on Elm Street” star went on to tie the knot with Amber Heard in 2015.
The former lovebirds were famously engaged after dating for only five months.Ke.Mazur/WireImageHowever, that relationship was also short-lived and turned into a nasty legal battle amid their split. Depp recently won a defamation lawsuit against the “Aquaman” actress, 36.
Following Heard’s claims that Depp was abusive, Ryder spoke out in his defense.
“I obviously was not there during his marriage to Amber, but, from my experience, which was so wildly different, I was absolutely shocked, confused and upset when I heard the accusations against him,” her statement read.
“The idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved. I cannot wrap my head around these accusations.”
