Winona Ryder's Inspiring Comeback Brought Her Failing Career Trajectory Back To Life

Jun 08, 2022

In December 2001, Winona Ryder was convicted of shoplifting clothes from the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue store. The stolen merchandise totaled about $5,000 at the time, an amount that is both exorbitant and also sort of nothing. It is likely that people wondered: what is worth it all to do so at Saks? 

Regardless of the financial impact of the crime on the luxury department store, Ryder had the proverbial book thrown at her head. The young actress, who had been known for her roles in "Beetlejuice," "Heathers," and "Little Women," became synonymous with light-fingered crime overnight. Despite the fact that countless other celebrities, such as Matthew McConaughey, Tim Allen, and Mark Wahlberg, have arrest records for arguably worse crimes, Ryder was effectively branded a criminal. 

The resulting coverage of the court proceedings was disproportional, eclipsing even world events with photos of Ryder with her lawyers. Merch touting the slogans "Free Winona" or "Winona Ryder Stole My Other T-Shirt" appeared, forming an unusual, almost apolitical stance on the crime. The public seemed to delight in Ryder's actions, but not quite pass judgment. 

This sidewalk jury of her peers did not condemn Ryder, but they also did not forgive her for this disgression. She had done wrong, but she also generated spectacle. She'd got caught, but she looked cool in cuffs. And no one had been hurt. Even Ryder admitted, “I didn’t have this tremendous sense of guilt, because I hadn’t hurt anyone...Had I physically harmed someone or caused harm to a human being, I think it would have been an entirely different experience.”

While Ryder served hundreds of hours of community service, stills from the security footage became iconic. “The attention was what was embarrassing,” Ryder recalled. It helped that Ryder's actions weren't "the crime of the century.” There hadn't been a gun flight, no lives were endangered, the events didn't make us question whether or not the very moral fibers of society were unraveling. All that happened was someone who could afford to buy something choose to steal it instead. This defied logic. And it was safe to rubberneck. 

Ryder remained silent. “I never said a word. I didn’t release a statement. I didn’t do anything. I just waited for it to be over.” Later, Ryder admitted, “Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop.” At the time, she also made “a very conscious decision not to work.” She offered no explanation, no Notes app apology. She simply slipped out of sight. 

Recalling her withdrawal, Ryder said, “A lot of people had the perception that I just disappeared in the 2000s. And I did, but only from that world.” Pulling back gave Ryder the space she needed. She admitted, “It allowed me time that I really needed, where I went back to San Francisco and got back into things that... I just had other interests, frankly.” Ryder never disappeared entirely. “I appeared elsewhere, I promise you. I was transformed into doing stuff I really wanted to do – it was a great awakening. It just wasn’t in the public eye,” she recalled. 

While we were wondering where Winona Ryder was, she was exploring her interests, deepening her confidence through all kinds of eclectic topics. “I was really lucky, because when all you’ve done is this one thing, you become sort of insecure because this town can be isolating and you don’t feel like you’re capable of doing other things,” she said. Ryder got “really into constitutional law for a while and really into linguistics and etymology for a while.”

In 2016, Ryder returned to television as Joyce Byers in “Stranger Things,” a single mother whose son disappears after playing tabletop games with his friends all night. Ryder seemed a perfect casting choice, playing the wide-eyed, frazzled, scatterbrained Byers perfectly; however, some viewers were quick to draw comparisons to Ryder herself. 

“There’s a line in the show where someone says [of her Stranger Things character], ‘She’s had anxiety problems in the past.’ A lot of people have picked up on that, like, ‘Oh, you know, she’s crazy.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, wait a second, she’s struggling.’ Two kids, deadbeat dad, working her ass off. Who wouldn’t be anxious?”

The show did introduce Ryder to Zoomers, who seem more concerned with demogorgons than missing Marc Jacobs sweaters. As long as she's a good mother to Will. And Netflix subscribers weren't the only ones to forget 2001 ever happened. In 2022 in an ironic reversal of opinion, Marc Jacobs made Ryder the face of their newest campaign. This decision proves that perhaps the only thing bigger than scandal is the spotlight.

What was your favorite Winona Ryder movie? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family, and fellow "Beetlejuice" fans!