Winona Ryder recounts what a director said to her after she called out his inappropriate actions early in her career

American actress Winona Laura Horowitz, commonly known as Winona Ryder, rose to fame in the '80s after starring in veteran filmmaker Tim Burton's horror comedy Beetlejuice.

Recently, in an interview with Elle Magazine, she opened up about the time when a director threatened to destroy her life. While the incident took place several years ago, she shared it recently during her conversation with the magazine.

The 53-year-old Winona Ryder, who began her acting career at a young age, was catapulted to mainstream fame when she was just 15. While she made her acting debut with the 1986 romantic-sports film Lucas, it was her role in Beetlejuice that helped her gain major attention in Hollywood.

Besides Tim Burton, Ryder has also collaborated with other legendary and Academy Award-winning filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

During her recent interview with Elle Magazine, the Stranger Things alum shared that when she was quite young and new to Hollywood, she was threatened by a director after she complained and expressed her dissatisfaction to the producers, as the director's behavior toward her was completely inappropriate. She urged the producers to have a word with him regarding the matter.

Ryder revealed what the director told her the next day on set:

"The next day I had a big scene. He came up to me, and he was like: ‘OK, so, um, if we just try it like — you f*cking cunt, I’m gonna destroy your f*cking life. OK? So let’s just do it like that?’"

She continued and said:

"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."

Winona Ryder also shared that she told the story a few years ago to her Beetlejuice co-stars Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, and Catherine O’Hara, she said:

"I was almost telling it like it was this funny story. Then I’m looking at Jenna’s face and imagining it happening to her. It wasn’t until that moment that I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is bad.’"

Winona Ryder faced sexual abuse throughout her acting career

According to BuzzFeed, in a 2024 interview with Esquire, Winona Ryder revealed that she was a victim of sexual harassment throughout her career. Ryder also mentioned that she was "blacklisted" by Harvey Weinstein's company Miramax up until 2005. The Mr. Deeds actress also shared that, as she was already a part of the industry before Harvey became influential, she knew better and also figured out that he did not like her much.

Winona Ryder further shared:

"I had a couple of difficult experiences with a couple of people who were just blatantly sexually harassing me. And then it happened again in my thirties. It wasn’t an assault. But it was incredibly inappropriate. It was wild."

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She further added:

"I was lucky because I was known, so it didn’t happen as much as maybe it would if I had been a struggling actor. But I remember this feeling in your mind: you’re negotiating, you’re thinking about what’s going to happen if you say something. You’re working it out while this person is being extremely creepy."

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