Winona Ryder’s Father Once Banned Her From Marrying Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder used to be one of Hollywood’s most popular couples during their younger years. The two had even considered marrying each other at one point before Ryder’s father quickly canceled those plans.

Winona Ryder’s father stopped her wedding with Johnny Depp

There was a time when Ryder could easily imagine herself getting married. But the Stranger Things star asserted that her marriage had to be done right, and last permanently.

“I plan on it. I’m very much traditional that way. I’d like to think it’s just going to happen once. I’m a hopeless romantic. I was literally born wanting to get married,” she once told Cinema. “And I’m keen to have children. When I do it, I’d like to take a lot of time off. All I will say is that I love being with children. It’s so exciting when your friends start having babies. I love being around them.”

Ryder originally planned on marrying her Edward Scissorhands co-star Johnny Depp. The two were involved in a highly publicized relationship in the 90s, and it wasn’t long before Depp handed Ryder an engagement ring. Considering how she felt, it seemed Ryder had every intention to marry the megastar.

But their wedding wouldn’t come to fruition for a few reasons. Ryder’s father, Michael Horowitz, revealed in a joint interview with his daughter that he was well aware of Ryder’s popularity with Depp.

“They were the hottest couple in the US at that time, like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are now. They were cool,” he once told Vogue (via Mirror).

But Ryder shared that her father didn’t let their relationship go any further than boyfriend and girlfriend.

“But you stopped a wedding,” Ryder reminded Horowitz during the interview.

“We loved Johnny but you were 17,” Horowitz told her.

Why Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder broke up

Ryder’s and Depp’s relationship didn’t last long as the duo went their separate ways in summer of 1994. The break-up was an especially tough time for Ryder, who couldn’t enjoy being at the peak of her career because of it.

“I had just done Dracula and Edward Scissorhands. I had just had my first real break-up, the first heartbreak,” Ryder once told Elle (via Irish Examiner). “And I think it was really ironic because, like, everybody else just thought I had everything in the world… [and] I had no reason to be depressed. Everything was sort of at its peak, but inside I was completely lost.”

In a Los Angeles Times interview, Depp offered a few more details about what he believed caused a rift between himself and Ryder.

“It’s very hard to have a personal life in this town,” Depp said. “My relationship with Winona, it was my mistake to be as open as we were, but I thought if we were honest it would destroy that curiosity monster. Instead it fed it, gave people license to feel they were part of it.”

Winona Ryder recently revealed she’s not sure about marriage

Both Depp and Ryder have had quite a few relationships since their break-up. Depp had even gotten married for the second time to actor Amber Heard before their controversial break-up. But Ryder confided she’d never gotten married to her partners partially due to high expectations.

“But marriage? I don’t know,” she once told The Edit (via ET). “I’d rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there’s anything wrong with divorce, but I don’t think I could do it if that was a possibility. When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high. But I’ve been happily with someone for quite a while now.”