Winona Ryder Was Bullied At School After Making Beetlejuice

Being in a blockbuster movie didn’t make Winona Ryder cool – in fact, it made her time at high school even worse.

Ryder, who was 16 when she was cast as Lydia Deetz in the spooky Tim Burton comedy, was targeted over the role, she’s revealed.

She moved to the town of Petaluma in California at the age of 11, where she had to contend with ‘hicks who were also stoners’, she told New York magazine.

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“I did ‘Beetlejuice’, and it was a big movie, but it didn’t help my high-school experience,” she said.

“In fact it made it worse. I was a freak and a witch.

“Even ‘Heathers’, which was, like, not a hit at all — I mean over the years it became one, but no. That was the first time I was even described in the script as attractive in any way.”

Ryder has recently addressed the rumours that a sequel to the movie is in the offing, with Burton and Michael Keaton on board.

“I don’t know. There’s something that really resonates with all ages, with that film. It’s interesting. I think it would be great if it happened, if it was the right circumstances,” she said.

“It’s very flattering and very humbling, indeed.”

She also spoke about making another of her hits, ‘Girl, Interrupted’, in 1999, because the subject matter resonated so much with her.

“I wish I could unknow this, but there is a perception of me that I’m supersensitive and fragile. And I am supersensitive, and I don’t think that that’s a bad thing,” she added.

“It’s kind of why I was so invested in [Girl, Interrupted] and trying to get it made. My whole point was, ‘This happens to every girl, almost.’

“It sounds really cliché, but I have had women come up to me and say, ‘It meant so much to me’.”

Ryder is currently experiencing something of a renaissance, thanks to her lead role in new Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’, helmed by ‘Wayward Pines’ writers Matt and Ross Duffer.

Image credits: Warner Bros/Rex Features/Netflix