For the most part, I don’t allow myself to get too attached to celebrity relationships. It’s emotionally draining to get involved in other people’s affairs, especially Hollywood of all places – a town where people swap out significant others the way they change their designer duds (half of which are on loan anyway). But once in a while there comes along that one couple that I can’t help but root for (and enjoy living vicariously through). And that couple in my case is Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, one of the most publicized (but genuine) couples of the ‘90s. Yes, I know, they’re not a couple anymore. It’s been about twenty years or so since they parted ways and embarked on a series of other relationships – Johnny dated Kate Moss, then spent over a decade with Vanessa Paradis while Winona moved on to Adam Duritz and Matt Damon, among others.
Johnny was Winona’s first love and played a significant role in her life. Direct quote from Winona: “When I met Johnny, I was a pure virgin. He changed that. He was my first everything. My first real kiss. My first real boyfriend. My first fiancé. The first guy I had sex with. So he’ll always be in my heart. Forever. Kind of funny, that word.” And despite the fact that Johnny was a notorious Hollywood heart-breaker with a string of women under his belt prior to meeting Winona, she was definitely something special to him. For starters, she’s the only woman who he has ever bothered to get a tattoo of (after they broke up, he eventually changed his ‘Winona Forever’ tattoo to ‘Wino’, but we all know the original intent behind that one). Johnny often did crazy things to show his love for Winona, like sending 200 packets of her favorite ramen noodles to her hotel room while she was away working on a film.
The two broke off their engagement after three years together, largely due to the reason that Winona’s father thought she was too young to get married (at the age of 18, she was ten years younger than Johnny). In addition to breaking Johnny’s heart, Winona also broke the rest of our hearts as well. Director Tim Burton said of the 1993 split: “When Johnny met Kate in January of ’94, it wasn’t the same as Winona. I felt weird to be around him like he wasn’t acting like Johnny anymore. It’s almost like Winona took Johnny’s soul, Johnny’s love.”
But despite the fact that they moved forward in different directions, I always got the feeling that there was still something between them – some invisible force that no one but Johnny and Winona will ever understand. And I am dead serious when I say that I think the two of them should consider giving love another go. I think the fact that the two keep bouncing from relationship to relationship since breaking up goes to show that there is no one suitable for either of them except for each other. I think that the two are soul mates. Winona forever.
