Stranger Things star Winona Ryder has a long running feud with Gwyneth Paltrow?

In the glittering world of 1990s Hollywood, Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow were once inseparable best friends. The Stranger Things icon and the future Goop founder ruled red carpets together, dated best friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and seemed destined for lifelong BFF status.

But a single script allegedly changed everything – sparking one of Tinseltown’s most talked-about celebrity feuds that still lingers decades later.

The turning point? The 1998 blockbuster Shakespeare in Love.

According to long-standing Hollywood rumors reported by outlets like the Mirror, Gwyneth Paltrow discovered the script for Shakespeare in Love while visiting Winona Ryder’s San Francisco home. Ryder, fresh off hits like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, had reportedly been attached to star as Viola de Lesseps – the lead role that eventually went to Paltrow.

Insiders claim Paltrow fell in love with the script on the spot, contacted her agent, and successfully auditioned – landing the part that Ryder believed was hers. The romantic comedy-drama went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, with Paltrow taking home the Best Actress statue in 1999, beating out heavyweights like Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.

Winona Ryder was said to be furious, accusing her former friend of “stealing” the career-defining role. The betrayal reportedly ended their friendship for good.

Gwyneth has always fiercely denied the accusations. In a 2015 interview with Howard Stern, she swore on the Bible: “I swear to God I did not [steal the role]. I’m raising my right hand on the Bible. I swear to God.”

She went further, suggesting the story was fabricated out of jealousy and that she hadn’t spoken to Winona Ryder in years.

The feud appeared to flare up again in 2009 when Paltrow published a now-infamous Goop newsletter titled “Evil Tongue and Living in Negativity.” In it, she wrote about a toxic “frenemy” who tried to destroy her, saying:

“This person really did what they could to hurt me… One day I heard that something unfortunate and humiliating had happened to this person. My reaction was deep relief and… happiness.”

Many fans immediately connected the dots to Winona Ryder’s highly publicized 2001 shoplifting arrest at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, for which she was convicted of grand theft and vandalism in 2002. Though Paltrow never named Ryder, the timing and details fueled years of speculation that the Stranger Things star was the unnamed “frenemy.”

Where Do Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow Stand Today?

Neither actress has publicly reconciled. More than 25 years after Shakespeare in Love swept the Oscars, the rumored bad blood between Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow remains one of Hollywood’s most enduring celebrity feuds.

From 90s red-carpet besties to alleged betrayal over an Oscar-winning role – the Stranger Things actress and the wellness mogul prove that sometimes, even the closest Hollywood friendships don’t have a happy ending.