In 2001, Winona Ryder was caught shoplifting over $5,000 worth of items from a Saks Fifth Avenue store. The actor, who was reportedly experiencing kleptomania, was “convicted … of grand theft and vandalism,” per Time. Her sentence included probation, community service, and restitution.
Looking back at the incident to Porter magazine in 2016, the “Edward Scissorhands” star tried to unpack her actions. Ultimately, she suspected she’d reached a breaking point. “Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop,” she said.
Up to that point, the weight of fame was something she’d been carrying for over a decade. Ryder’s acting career began when she was 14 years old, and it’s no secret that being a child in show business can be an intense way to grow up. She once expressed how much pressure she endured over working in Hollywood at such a young age, noting that she couldn’t take breaks like most of her peers. “I was going through adolescence on screen,” she said while speaking to The New York Times. “I mean, most kids can have a bad day and miss school, but I couldn’t miss a day of work because that would be a $300,000 insurance day, blah, blah, blah.”