Keanu Reeves’ co-star in ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ revealed on Friday that he was sexually abused as a child actor.
Speaking to the BBC, Alex Winter said that he was molested while working as an actor in the 1970s.
The 52-year-old actor, who was born in England and raised in Missouri, moved to New York City in 1978 when he was around 13 years old to begin acting on Broadway.
He wouldn’t identify his abuser, but said that the man has died.
Alex Winter, who starred in the 1989 hit ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,’ revealed in an interview on Friday that he was sexually abused as a child actor
Winter said the experience was ‘hellish’ and caused him to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘That was evident to me while I was still in my teens,’ he said. ‘And so I began to do work on it. But it really took time, and it really wasn’t in my case, I would say, ’til well into my 30s, that I was really able to do heavy lifting on this stuff.
Along the way, Winter said he’s had some ‘very dark moments’
‘You do to some very dark places and you can get very dysfunctional,’ he said.
Starring in the silly ‘Bill & Ted’ movies was ‘therapeutic,’ Winter said. He’s pictured on the right with Keanu Reeves in the film
One thing that helped was acting in the lighthearted and goofy ‘Bill & Ted’ movies.
He said filming the first movie, in 1989, was ‘therapeutic’ for him because he was in a ‘dark place around that time’.
‘It was an opportunity to be child-like… innocent and sweet,’ Winter said.
‘The movies are what they are, they’re silly and all that, I don’t hold them in overly high estimation as works of art or anything, but we had a lot of fun making them,’ he added.
Today, Winter says he has achieved a ‘functioning, healthy life,’ with a wife and three kids – including one from a former marriage. He now works as a director.
Winter now works as a director, is married and the father of three kids
‘I love my career, I love my family and my kids. I feel incredibly lucky,’ he says.
He said he decided to speak out about what happened to him because of the #MeToo movement that has been sweeping the industry.
‘I don’t think anybody felt like they were going to be heard if they said anything about this type of behavior, until very recently.
‘I didn’t feel that I had any place of safety to unlock an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous secret,’ he said.
Winter also stared in ‘The Lost Boys’ and the Bill & Ted sequel, ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Adventure’.