Winona Ryder Speaks out About Abuse Allegations Against Johnny Depp

Winona Ryder has spoken out about the abuse allegations against her former fiancé Johnny Depp in a new interview with Time, calling the idea “unimaginable.”

The two actors, who co-starred together in 1990’s Edward Scissorhands, met in 1989, getting engaged soon after. The pair broke up in 1993, after Depp famously got a “Winona Forever” that he later changed to “Wino Forever.”

“I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said,” Ryder said of the allegations. “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.”

“I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened,” she added. “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,” she says. “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.”

“It’s very tricky because if it were any other type of scandal, like cheating, you could be like, ‘None of my business. No comment,” the actress continued. “Not appropriate for me.’ But I think because what is being said is so horrific and such a global issue for millions of women, obviously, that I understand why people feel it is their business. I get it.”

After splitting with Ryder, Depp dated French actress Vanessa Paradis from 1998 to 2012 and had two children with her, Lily-Rose, 17, and Jack, 14. Depp later married actress Amber Heard in February 2015, with Heard filing for divorce in May and accusing Depp of domestic abuse, Us Weekly reports. Heard has since been granted a restraining order.

This story first appeared on Womanista.