bill and ted Star Alex Winter He credits his decision to take a break from Hollywood as the reason for a positive change in his life.
talking The Guardian In a post published on Friday, November 7, the 60-year-old actor reflected on leaving fame behind to pursue a less public life after experiencing childhood sexual abuse and facing burnout in his acting career.
Winter told the media that he was “fired” at the age of 26 and left Los Angeles for New York and then moved to London. He chose to work behind the camera rather than in front of it.
“I just wanted to stay away from the public eye, just be on the tube, go to my office in Soho and start a family,” he told me. The Guardian.
“My career is what I want it to be, which means I have the ability to do the things that interest me most,” he added. “But if I hadn’t broken up, I wouldn’t have gotten better.”
Winter began his career on Broadway at the age of ten, starring in plays king and me and Peter Pan. While working on Broadway, Winter was sexually abused by an unknown adult who is now dead.
It wasn’t until decades later, in 2018, that Winter publicly revealed the abuse and spoke about its impact.
Alex Winter.
(Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)“Frankly, it’s been hell. You know, it’s been hell,” he told BBC Radio 5 live In February 2018, Adrian Chiles spoke of the impact the abuse had had on him. “I think, until recently, no one felt that if they said anything about this behavior, it would be heard.”
He continued, “I felt like I had no safe place to unravel an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous secret.”
Winter also spoke about the abuse in an interview The Guardian 2020.
“I was dealing with very serious and long-term abuse,” he told the publication. “have king and me – Eight shows a week with a happy smile on his face – a real joy in this role. Having a great relationship with my mom and dad; having a great relationship with the people around me; doing interviews, signing autographs, living an amazing life…and then this other, nightmare existence. “
He continued: “I suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for many, many years, and it wreaks havoc on you. It’s one of the ways you connect to the world around you and yourself, and it’s very subtle, but you can become very broken. So you slowly compartmentalize. You put this thing here, you put that thing there, and you don’t have any natural balance. And that fragmentation just gets worse and worse.”
In the same interview, he also candidly reflected on why he left Hollywood to pursue a more low-key lifestyle elsewhere.
“By the time you’re in your 20s, it’s like you’re duct-taping your different selves together. That’s when you see kids overdosing on drugs or having their heads blown off,” he told us. The Guardian. “For me, I was just like, I need to stop doing this because these eyes are always on me and I don’t feel safe or comfortable… I just want to ride the subway and help support my family and do my writing and directing.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, please call or text Children’s Helpline Phone: 1-800-422-4453.
