Winona Ryder Speaks Out About the Johnny Depp Abuse Allegations
One of the most beloved celebrity couples of the '90s was Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp, who met in 1989 when they were 17 and 27, respectively. They got engaged only five months after their first date, and Depp got a tattoo on his right arm saying "Winona Forever." But it was not to be. In 1993, they announced that they had split up, amid rumors that their age difference was an issue.
Now, Ryder has joined the list of exes defending Depp amid allegations that he violently abused his now estranged wife, Amber Heard. In a recent interview with Time, Ryder said she couldn't imagine Depp being abusive:
I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said. I mean, he was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves. It's hard because I feel like-that's my experience. And it's been a very long time.
She went on to acknowledge that she doesn't know the full story, but that she didn't experience any kind of abuse when she dated Depp 23 years ago:
I don't know how you feel about it, but it's like anybody who says anything about it is a victim-blamer. I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. I'm not calling anyone a liar. I'm just saying, it's difficult and upsetting for me to wrap my head around it. Look, it was a long time ago, but we were together for four years, and it was a big relationship for me. And we have a lot of mutual friends. I just never heard anything like that about him....I get that there are patterns of abuse...But it's weird because imagine if someone you dated when you were-I was 17 when I met him-was accused of that. It's just shocking. I have never seen him be violent toward a person before.
