WINONA
Ryder
W
hen Netflix’s Stranger
Things debuted in
2016, critics raved
about the nostalgia-
laden, Spielberg-esque
offering, while audiences became
obsessed. At the very centre of the
feverish attention was Winona Ryder’s
portrayal of a woman whose life
had spun out of control. Still, it was
hard to miss the symmetry between
the plot and her own life.
She was the gamine It girl whose
insouciant cool came to define a
generation, then turned troubled star,
years before Lindsay Lohan and co
made the courtroom arrival a tabloidmainstay. Now, thanks to Stranger
Things, Ryder was making a
stunning comeback after years
of living in self-appointed exile.
Born Winona Horowitz, near
Winona, Minnesota, her writer
parents struggled to make ends meet.
When she was 10, the family moved
to California, and shortly after Ryder
enrolled at the American Conservatory
Theater. A tomboyish teenager, Ryder
dropped out of high school at age 14
after being attacked by a group of
school kids who thought she was an
effeminate boy. “I remember the halls
were empty and these kids started
shouting ‘faggot’,” Ryder recalled.As ’90s cult film
Reality Bites hits its
25th anniversary,
Daniela Elser looks
back on the highs and
lows of the actress who
became the poster girl
for generation XLIFE STORIES
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