Winona Finally Talks Shoplifting Incident

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 17, 2007) — Winona Ryder is finally speaking out on her shoplifting incident 5 years ago, where she got in trouble for stealing.

After years of silence on the topic, the actress tackled the issues with Vogue magazine for their August issue, which features Ryder as the cover star. The star of movies like “Heathers” and “Girl, Interrupted,” said taking the clothes from Saks, wasn’t what got her down, but rather the surrounding media hype.

“The attention was what was embarrassing,” Ryder told the magazine. “It was the December after September 11. . . So much attention was being paid to me, when we had just been attacked and there was all this really important news going on.”

In the months before the incident, Ryder admitted she was taking heavy painkillers. She told Vogue she was taking them due to an injury.

“Two months prior to that, I broke my arm in two places, and the doctor ? was giving me a lot of stuff and I was taking it at first to get through the pain. And then there was this weird point when you don’t know if you are in pain but you’re taking it,” she said. “Have you ever taken painkillers? It isn’t a reckless[state], like you’re out of your head. It’s just confusion.”

No family members of the actresses’ tried to intervene following the arrest, but Ryder admits she stopped taking the painkiller Oxycodone after her arrest.

“No one [in my family] ever got angry with me. Concerned, yes, but not concerned with a drug problem or anything. Because after that night I pretty much didn’t ever? If you are ever arrested, you can’t ever do that again. I didn’t have this tremendous sense of guilt because I hadn’t hurt anyone,” she said.

Though she’s dated a host of hot stars and rocker boys in the past Ryder also told the magazine she is currently single. The 35-year-old star, also admitted to the magazine she has an interest in having children.

“It’s this weird pressure that I probably shouldn’t even talk about. You know how people ask, ‘Who is the love of your life?’ God, I hope I haven’t met that person yet, in a way, because I’m single. I hope I haven’t had that, since that would be sad,” she said.