Winona Ryder has a profile in Elle UK this month by journalist Jeff Giles, who also interviewed her when she was just 19. It’s full of interesting asides and is a breezy yet fresh look into her career and life now. It was news to me that Ryder cut her own hair in the 90s. (It’s possible she’s mentioned it before, but if so it wasn’t easily googled. I wish Giles had asked Ryder if she still cuts her own hair!) She clearly hasn’t done much to her face, and she implied that she hasn’t done Botox yet, at 53. She also expressed a sentiment which many of us Gen X ladies share – that young women are screwing up their faces with surgery and injectables. I’m going to excerpt some of the most newsworthy parts, but there’s so much more to the piece, which you can read at the source.

She cuts her own hair
‘Honestly, I always loved having short hair,’ she says. ‘One thing is, I have to cut it myself.’

All those iconic pixie cuts in the 1990s? She did that? ‘Always. It’s easy. And for Reality Bites, I just went like this…’

Ryder lowers her head, puts her hands behind her back, and pretends to be chopping away. ‘Upside down and you cut up,’ she says.

Her thoughts on Botox and plastic surgery
‘I always knew I looked young,’ Ryder says. ‘But I also knew that when I started ageing, it was gonna happen fast.’

I state the obvious – that it hasn’t happened yet.

‘It kind of has,’ she says, and points to her forehead. ‘I don’t mind it. But what’s weird is when you’re surrounded by young women getting weird shit done.’ She’s talking about buccal-fat removal, during which, yes, fat is sucked out of the cheeks with a vacuum. ‘I thought they were kidding. I want to say, like, “In 10 years, you’re gonna want that back!”’

Lately, female directors have made it clear they think Ryder would benefit from some Botox: ‘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.’

Ryder smiles, unphased by all this. She seems to wear the pressure of ageing like a sundress. ‘So, I think what I aspire to, finally, is to play the judge who’s like, “Chambers now, counsellor! Too far!”’ She rises slightly from her seat to deliver the line and booms it out giddily.

How she met her partner
Some of Ryder’s equanimity has to do with locating the love of her life, the green-fashion entrepreneur Scott Mackinlay Hahn. (When they met at the Black Swan premiere in 2010, Hahn mistook her for Milla Jovovich. ‘I thought it was the most charming thing in the world,’ Ryder says – so, later, she chased down his phone number. ‘I was very direct. I was like, “Listen, do you want to go on a date?’’’)

She’s helped the Stranger Things’ cast know their worth
‘I started [my career] as the youngest, and I always wanted to be older.’ So, when Stranger Things became a smash, Ryder helped the teens keep it all in perspective. ‘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.’ Ryder also told the cast to remember their own value. ‘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.”’

She was discouraged from doing Heathers
‘I was told I was never gonna work again if I did Heathers,’ she says, admitting: ‘I did lose a job.’ She’s not sure she wants to reveal what job it was. I point out that it was 35 years ago. ‘OK, OK, I’ll tell you. You remember the movie The Freshman?’ Yes: the comedy with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. Ryder had landed the role, but then the film-makers saw Heathers. ‘They thought it was making fun of teen suicide. They were deeply offended and, yeah, they revoked the offer.’ She affects a weepy voice: ‘I’m like, “I can’t work with Marlon Brando?” But I had to stand my ground. I wasn’t gonna apologise.’ Later, I ask if she ever watches her old movies, and she says: ‘I never turn off Heathers if it’s on. I know it basically by heart.’’’

She was retaliated against by a director when she reported his sexual harassment
Ryder has experienced much more difficult stuff in Hollywood, too. She remembers telling the producers of a movie that the director was being inappropriate with her and asking if they could talk to him. ‘The next day I had a big scene,’ she says. The director approached her on set to discuss said scene, then changed his tone to a whisper. ‘He 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.’

Two years ago, Ryder told that anecdote to Jenna Ortega, Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara while shooting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. ‘I was almost telling it like it was this funny story,’ she says. ‘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.”’

[From Elle UK]

The last anecdote above, about how she was harassed and then bullied on set, was relatable. Like Ryder, I’ve only come to realize my own experiences when it dawned on me how young I was at the time. When Ryder mentioned young women messing up their faces, I wondered whether she was thinking of Millie Bobby Brown, who looks markedly different lately. Millie probably hasn’t done buccal fat removal though. I’m so grateful we have American actresses in their 50s who aren’t getting obvious work done. When I watch a show set in the past, like Stranger Things, it takes me out of the time period to see actors with Botox and fillers.

There’s more in the article about Ryder’s life now, which sounds so peaceful and retro. She and her partner listen to St. Etienne, Tom Waits and The Replacements. She loves sitting in her favorite chair and reading books every night. This is the lifestyle many of us aspire to, but it’s not really marketable to value simple things and be content with yourself. If it was Ryder wouldn’t cash in on it anyway.

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Photos credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Cat Morley/Avalon