Winona Ryder Says She “Checked Out” After 2001 Shoplifting Arrest

Winona Ryder is opening up about her early aughts arrest and how she was treated in the media as a result.

On Thursday, Aug. 29, in a new interview with Esquire, the Beetlejuice star said she "checked out" of Hollywood and the entertainment industry following her December 2001 shoplifting arrest and the wave of negative press that followed.

In 2000, the actress was arrested and charged with stealing $5,500 worth of clothes from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. In 2001, Ryder was found guilty of grand theft and shoplifting and sentence to three years probation.

“I checked out,” she told the publication at the time, referring to how she coped with the publicity and media attacks. “I think I just checked out.”

Ryder went on to say that her legal troubles "definitely had a giant effect" on her career—a surprise to the actress at the time, who told the publication she thought things would be "fine."

“It kept being like, ‘Oh, it’s fine, this is just, like, paperwork,’" she said. "And I was like: ‘OK.’ I was so confused. I just remember being told I was going to go to prison. I was like, ‘Huh? What are you talking about?’"

In addition to being afraid about the possibility of jail time, Ryder went on to say that she was also "really scared" of the way the media was covering young female celebrities.

"It felt like there was a shift in the industry and the culture about what became acceptable and what became rewarded," she explained.

At the time, the actress moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco. When she returned to the entertainment industry, Ryder says the environment had changed dramatically.

“There was a period when I was not in season,” she said. "It was like 10, 12, 15 years, and it did coincide with everything that happened but also, if you look at the period from 2000 to 2010: Wow! It was the most degrading time to be a woman."

The actress went on to say that even the "cool people" were involving themselves in things that she says should have been "off-limits."

In a previous 2016 interview, Ryder discussed her decision to "check out" from Hollywood, and why the break was actually beneficial, especially for her mental health.

“Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop,” the actress explained at the time. “I won’t get into what happened, but it wasn’t what people think. And it wasn’t like the crime of the century! But 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.”

In another 2013 interview, Ryder said that "in a weird way, it was almost like the best thing that could have happened."

"I'd never asked myself the question before of, 'Is it OK if I'm not going to act?'" she said at the time. "'Is there anything else?' Because that was all I really new....It was like you were under this weird threat all the time, which felt like so much pressure. And all you ever heard was, 'If you take a break, you can't come back.' That was drilled into you."