Winona Ryder admits she had two awful relationships when she was young adding ‘what was I thinking?’ but feels ‘lucky’ with her current love as the Stranger Things actress talks her new version of Beetlejuice

Winona Ryder has made the rare move of opening up about her personal life.

While posing for the new issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, the 52-year-old – born Winona Laura Horowitz – touched on her high-profile love life.

The 90s screen queen admitted that in her past she had two disastrous relationships. She doesn’t name names but two of her high-profile beaus have been Johnny Depp and Matt Damon. She also romanced David Duchovny, Val Kilmer and Pete Yorn.

But the Stranger Things actress shared with writer Thessaly La Force that she has been much happier in more recent years with her current boyfriend Scott Mackinlay Hahn, founder of the sustainable organic-cotton company, Loomstate.

They have been together for 14 years. 

And she feels ‘lucky’ that she has met such a great man, added the star who is doing a new version of Tom Burton’s Beetlejuice.

‘He’s so great. He really is. I’m really lucky,’ Ryder said of Scott whom she is often seen with at Hollywood events.

Now she is reprising her character, Lydia Deetz, for the upcoming sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

‘I felt bad for her,’ she explained.

Lydia Deetz reminds Ryder of a younger version of herself, she noted:

‘In my 30s, I had two disastrous relationships that were—they weren’t wrong, but this was before you would ever think to Google someone,’ she said.

‘When I look back, I’m like, “What the hell was I thinking?”

‘I was dating the type of person who only lets you know a few weeks in that they’re in a relationship with someone else. And you’re just like, “What the f***?”‘

She also talked her heartbreaking diaries. 

‘You clearly write when you’re depressed or upset,’ shared the Petaluma native.

‘I tend to not write when I’m really happy,’ she added.

‘I was going through them and just asking myself, How?’ I was clearly trying to deal with …’

She then said: ‘It was very sad. I was clearly trying to believe the best and to give grace to myself. But I was taking care of everything but myself.’

She also talked meeting Burton.

‘I was sitting there, and this guy came in holding a folder, who I thought was a messenger or something. We started talking about Edward Gorey. About half an hour into this conversation, I feel like I’m making a friend, and I ask him, ‘Do you know Tim Burton? This is his office, right?’ And he went, ‘Well, that’s me.’ I didn’t know that directors could look like Tim. 

‘He was 27. Immediately, I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t. I’m sorry. Do you want me to read?’ He told me no. I remember feeling like ‘Oh, God, did I blow it?’

‘I had this fear when I got up to leave, and I was like, ‘Hey, man, it was really great meeting you. Good luck, this sounds really great.’ I added, ‘If you want, I can come back.’ 

‘But he told me that he wanted me to do it. That had never happened. I’d never been offered a part without a reading for it or on the spot like that, ever.’

He said of her: ‘She probably thought I was some kind of weird stalker,’ says Burton. ‘But I had that effect on people. I didn’t speak very well, so people didn’t understand what I was saying. 

‘In fact, they still don’t. But again, that’s why I feel like we connected, because I didn’t scare her away. She ultimately got it and got who I was.’ 

She also said she is OK with her success at a young age. 

‘I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to live this life—however intense and overwhelming it got, it’s NOTHING compared to what it is now with the internet and social media. 

‘I just find myself feeling tremendous empathy toward people who have sacrificed so much.’

Ryder was photographed by Liv Liberg and styled by Vanessa Reid for The Harper’s BAZAAR August 2024 Performance Issue. 

The issue hits newsstands on July 23, 2024.