North Stars

Why did Winona Ryder’s parents move to Canada?

Soraya Roberts
North Stars

View gallery


Rob Kim/Getty Images

Winona Ryder may have been spending time in Canada for the past decade without our knowledge. The 41-year-old "Iceman" star has revealed in the new issue of Interview magazine that her parents moved north of the border in 2004.

And what caused Ryder's parents to leave the United States?

"My parents are awesome, but they're pretty left-wing. They live in Canada now. They moved when Bush was re-elected," Ryder explained. "You know how a lot of people said they were going to do that? My parents actually did it."

Ryder's mother, Cynthia Palmer, is a writer and video producer, while her father, Michael Horowitz, is a writer, editor, and bookseller. Though their famous daughter was born in Minnesota, the family reportedly moved to a commune near Mendocino, California, in 1978. They relocated again a few years later to Petaluma, California.

These days, Ryder splits her time between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York (with visits to Canada, we guess).

"I'm actually trying to do the bicoastal thing now for real," Ryder told Interview, adding, "My home is San Francisco -- that is definitely what I consider my home. But I have a little place for when I'm in L.A., and then there's this apartment in Williamsburg, which is the part of Brooklyn where my dad grew up."

Ryder admitted one of the perks of living in New York is the anonymity. "If you're at all recognizable, it's pretty easy in New York to avoid the tourist areas, and people in general are a lot less interested in that stuff."

However, the Big Apple allegedly can't hold a candle to the friendliness of San Francisco. "It's the kind of place where people smile at you and you can strike up conversations on the street, so there's always an adjustment when I come back to New York," Ryder said. "If I smile at someone on the street in New York, then they think there's something up—like, 'Why is she smiling?'"

Don't worry, Winona -- if you smile at a Canadian, they're likely just to ask for your autograph. While apologizing, of course.

More Features on Yahoo!:

View Comments

Recommended for You