What keeps Winona Ryder up

Winona Ryder can’t sleep, says Simon Braund in Empire. “I come from a long line of insomniacs,” says the 37-year-old actress. On most nights she’ll rattle around her home in Los Angeles; sometimes, to break the boredom, she’ll get on the phone to fellow insomniac Al Pacino. “When you find someone you have that in common with, especially an actor, it’s a great bonding experience.” To find out what was keeping her up, she once went to a neurologist in New York. “He said, ‘Look at your life. It’s so strange. People stare at you, strangers know who you are, you pretend to be other people for a living. It’s normal that you get anxious at times, that you’re an insomniac.” Being an actress, though, is only one reason for her sleeplessness. “As soon as I told him I was an insomniac, he asked me if I was of Russian Jewish descent.” Indeed she is; Ryder is very conscious of the fact that some of her relatives died in the Holocaust. When she does fall asleep, she often has a recurring dream of being trapped in a concentration camp. “He told me that something like 90 percent of insomniacs he treats are of Russian Jewish descent. He basically said, ‘You people have been freaked out for so long, it’s no wonder you can’t sleep!’”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up