Winona Ryder admits she was sexually harassed as a young actress

Winona Ryder has admitted that she had “some difficult experiences” in her youth with people “who just blatantly sexually harassed me.”

The American actress, who stars in Tim Burton's 1988 film “Beetlejuice” and its upcoming sequel, said that “looking back,” these experiences “really ruined” her filmmaking career.

Speaking to Esquire UK magazine, the 52-year-old looked back on her career, which began in the 1980s, and what it was like to meet disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The actress said he wouldn't hire her because “I think I know a little too much.”

She also said, “I think there were several reasons why he didn't hire me.”

“One time I was supposed to have a meeting with him, I went into the Miramax office, held out my hand, he shook my hand, and I sat on the couch, we talked, and then I left.

“And (afterward) I got yelled at (by an agent).

“'What the hell did you do?' I was like, 'What?' Apparently I insulted him by shaking his hand?”

Weinstein is currently awaiting retrial on rape and sexual assault charges in Manhattan, and Ryder said she can “truly understand” what his alleged victims have been through.

“I've had some difficult experiences with some people who just blatantly sexually harassed me,” she said.

“And then it happened again in my thirties. It wasn't an assault. But it was incredibly inappropriate. It was wild.

“I really understand (what the alleged victims of Weinstein and others have been through).

“I was lucky because I was well known, so this didn't happen as often as it might have if I had been a struggling actor.

“But I remember this feeling in your head: you're negotiating, you're thinking about what's going to happen if you say something. You're working on it, while this person is acting extremely scary.”

She added that she had become accustomed to brushing off unwanted attention from men.

She said: “If someone behaved inappropriately or hit on me when I was drunk, it was like 'Ha ha!' That's what you do. 'Ha ha!' Inappropriate? I could live with that. But touching me? That felt very intrusive.”

As Esquire UK reports, Ryder was not a victim of Weinstein and did not want to name the people involved or go into detail about the events.

“I think in retrospect it (filmmaking) really ruined it for me,” she said.

“All the great actors always told me that when it's not great anymore, you have to stop. I really took that to heart.”

Ryder, who has had high-profile relationships with Johnny Depp and Matt Damon, reflected on her love life and said she was ready to be “an old maid” before meeting her partner Scott Mackinlay Hahn.

“I thought I was f***ing done. I thought I was just going to be an old maid,” she said.

“I know it's hard for younger people to hear that it happens when you least expect it. But…”

When asked if the two were married, Hahn said: “Not officially, but it will be soon.”

He added that this would probably happen “this year”.

Ryder is also known for her leading roles in films such as “Heathers,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Little Women,” and also plays Joyce Byers in the Netflix series “Stranger Things.”

The autumn issue of Esquire UK is on sale now.