Winona Ryder felt pressurised by female directors to slow down signs of ageing

Winona told ELLE UK magazine: "They'll say, 'Just relax your forehead. Relax.' I'm trying to be a great actor, and they're saying that over and over. It's nice that people are talking about how it's OK to age, but there's still enormous pressure.

"Every role I get is for a mother, you know? My career has definitely shifted."

The Heathers actress is relaxed when it comes to ageing but is puzzled by younger stars who are "getting weird s*** done" to themselves.

Winona said: "I don't mind it. But what's weird is when you're surrounded by young women getting weird s*** done.

"I started my career as the youngest, and I always wanted to be older.

"I always knew I looked young. But I also knew that when I started ageing, it was gonna happen fast."

Winona will return as Joyce Byers in the fifth and final season of the Netflix show Stranger Things later this year and does her best to pass on pearls of wisdom to the show's youthful cast.

The Reality Bites star explained: "I was like, 'This doesn't happen. This is weird - the phenomenon. The work is the gift. That is why you're doing it.' Which was what was instilled in me. And I think I was successful with some of them.

"I've been trying to sort of change this narrative with the kids, because they have it drilled into them that they're so lucky and, you know, that this show 'made' them.

"I'm like, 'No, Netflix is so lucky. You guys are the special ones. Like, you guys are magic.'"

Winona also doesn't believe that she would've made it in Hollywood without the support of Laura Dern - who she met on the first screen test for her movie debut Lucas.

She said: "I don't think I'd be here without her. I met her on my first screen test for Lucas - I didn't know what a screen test was.

"I remember walking in, and River Phoenix held the door open for me. I was like, 'Oh, that's so nice.' I recognised him from Stand By Me, and he had broken his leg.

"Laura was there to read for the older girl, and she talked me through it, 'cause I didn't know what the f*** was going on.

"She befriended me. I was literally 12 and - nobody knows this - she took me under her wing into my twenties. That relationship got me through."

Read the full interview with Winona Ryder at https://www.elle.com/uk/winona-ryder

The September issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 31 July.