Winona Ryder Cops to her Arrest

"The attention was what was embarrassing," she tells the new issue of Vogue. "It was the December after Sept. 11. … So much attention was being paid to me, when we had just been attacked, and there was all this really important news going on."

Winona says that pills played a part in her breaking the law. "Two months prior to that, I broke my arm in two places, and the doctor … was giving me a lot of stuff, and I was taking it at first to get through the pain. And then there was this weird point when you don't know if you are in pain but you're taking it." She continues: "Have you ever taken painkillers? It isn't a reckless (state), like you're out of your head. It's just confusion."

The actress, who is making a comeback of sorts with three new movies coming out, says she made the conscious decision to lay off work after her arrest. She moved to San Francisco to live near her parents, who supported her through the tough time. "No one (in my family) ever got angry with me. Concerned, yes, but not concerned with a drug problem or anything. Because after that night I pretty much didn't ever. … If you are ever arrested, you can't ever do that again," she says.

I was always a big Winona fan. Reality Bites ranks up there on my list of favorite movies, so I'm glad to see the little lady has healed. And now, with cocaine and porn tape scandals flooding Tinseltown, Winona's little shoplifting incident is the tiniest blip on the celebrity crime radar.

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