“I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said,” the “Stranger Things” star, 44, recently told Time. “He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves.”
While Ryder can’t imagine the “Black Mass” star, 53, striking someone he cares about, she was quick to note that that doesn’t mean she’s questioning Heard’s domestic violence allegations.
“I wasn’t there,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. I’m not calling anyone a liar. I’m just saying, it’s difficult and upsetting for me to wrap my head around it. Look, it was a long time ago, but we were together for four years, and it was a big relationship for me.”
Ryder and Depp started dating in the summer of 1989 and were engaged in July of the next year, when the actress was still a teen. They would eventually call things off 1993, at which time Depp was left with a tattoo that read “Winona Forever.” He altered it to read “Wino Forever” following their break-up.
Though the relationship made both of them tabloid fixtures, Ryder never saw that side of Depp, and it’s because of that that she finds the current situation so surprising.
“Imagine if someone you dated when you were — I was 17 when I met him — was accused of that. It’s just shocking. I have never seen him be violent toward a person before.”
Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May. The split has been a nasty and public one, with one of Depp’s pals throwing allegations of blackmail at the actress in response to her abuse accusations.