Alex Winter Opens Up On How The BILL AND TED Films Helped Him Deal With His Childhood Sexual Abuse
With this movement against sexual abuse, more and more people feel that they can come out and talk about their past experiences. While most of the talk revolves around women being sexually abused and taken advantage of, there's still very little talk about child sexual abuse, which is an even bigger problem. It's a lot bigger than most people realize, especially here in the United States.
Bill and Ted star Alex Winter recently opened up about his past revealing that he was sexually abused as a child in an interview with BBC Radio 5, and also talks about how the Billy and Ted films were "therapeutic" for him and how they helped him come to terms with his traumatic experiences as a child. When talking about being involved with Bill and Ted, he said:
"It was an opportunity to be child-like... innocent and sweet. 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 went on to talk about how it helped him mentally saying:
"But for me personally, in terms of the experience... it was really, really helpful for me mentally. And it was a great environment. The world of Bill and Ted is a very sweet and fun place to run around in"
Being in such a fun environment helped him get through the dark times. He explained that he went through "very hard moments along the way... you go to some very dark places. And you can get very dysfunctional". He also says that he can identify "with those that didn't make it, with the people that killed themselves, with people who are just walking around like a powder keg."
When reflecting on his experiences as a child he said:
"It's hellish, to be totally frank. You know, it's hellish. I don't think anybody felt like they were going to be heard if they said anything about this type of behaviour, until very recently. I didn't feel that I had any place of safety to unlock an extremely sensitive and potentially dangerous secret."
Over the years, he managed to work through his issues, which included PTSD, and over the past year he finally has come to the point where he can openly talk about it.
Winter made sure to let everyone know that he is living a "functioning, healthy life", and says, "I love my career, I love my family and my kids. I feel incredibly lucky."
Winter and Keanu Reeves are currently in the process of trying to get another Bill and Ted into production, and I know a lot of fans hope that eventually happens.