“They called me a witch”: Winona Ryder Was Bullied and Abused After Starring as a Goth Teenager in Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice’

Winona Ryder was the IT girl of the 90s. In the era of the girl-next-door that was populated with actresses like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Gwyneth Paltrow, her porcelain features and disenchanted eyes made her offbeat and hauntingly attractive.

One of her most famous films till now is Beetlejuice (1988).

The comedy horror is regarded as a cult classic that’s still watched today.

Ryder was still in school when she made that film. Since she faced bullying at her school, so she thought that starring in a popular movie would change her status quo overnight.

But that didn’t happen. In fact, the bullying got worse.

Winona Ryder Was Bullied Even More For Starring In Beetlejuice 

Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice

But that didn’t happen even after Beetlejuice, where she played goth teen Lydia Deetz, grossed $74 million on a $15 million production budget.

Winona Ryder
Instead, the bullying got worse and kids called her a witch due to her role in the film. Ryder reminisced that:

“I remember thinking, ‘Ooh, it’s like the number-one movie. This is going to make things great at school.’ But it made things worse. They called me a witch.”

However, the kind of treatment she got from her schoolmates would pale in comparison to how Hollywood would treat her, especially after her shoplifting scandal.

One interviewer noted that she didn’t even like talking about herself anymore.

Winona Ryder Gets Overwhelmed When Talking About Herself

Whenever the topic of her career was brought up, she would divert it to talk about some actor or artist she loved. To this Ryder said:

“Being talked about, being reviewed … realizing that someone could pause you, could rewind you? It was so overwhelming.” 

Winona Ryder in Stranger Things
She also mentioned how difficult it was for actresses to sustain themselves in the Hollywood ecosystem where taking a break was akin to committing career suicide. Ryder mentioned:

“This business is brutal. You’re working constantly, but if you want to take a break, they tell you, ‘If you slow down, it’s going to stop.’ And then it did slow down.

So then you’re hearing, ‘It’s going to be impossible to come back.’

And then that changes to ‘You’re not even part of the conversation.’ Like, it was brutal.” 

It’s undeniable that Winona Ryder has had a rough career.

After the shoplifting scandal, work was sparse and there were way more droughts than she would like to admit.

However, thanks to Stranger Things, she made a comeback and nowadays, she has entered the pop-culture conversation sphere again.