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“Modern Family” star Ariel Winter left Los Angeles to escape the trauma of growing up in the spotlight.
Winter, now 27, gained fame after starring in the ABC show as Alex Dunphy. As she transitioned from child star to teen celebrity, Winter said the negative comments about her body took a toll on her self-esteem.
“It was just everywhere,” she told People magazine. “It was every headline I read about myself, like, grown people writing articles about me saying how I looked terrible or pregnant or like a fat s—. I mean, I was 14. It totally damaged my self-esteem.”
“I understood what it was like to be hated,” Winter added. “No matter what I was going through, I was a target. It made it very difficult to look at myself in the mirror and go, ‘I love this version of me.’”
Winter’s childhood wasn’t only marred by the harsh lights of Hollywood. The young actress was allegedly abused by her mother, who has denied the allegations.
At the age of 14, Winter was placed with her sister, Shanelle Gray, after being removed from her home by Child Protective Services.
“I went on to have a great rest of my teenage years thanks to being under her custody,” Winter told the outlet.
Winter said her trauma really just stems from “just my entire childhood.”
“It’s a really deep, painful, sore, sore part for me that’s so much deeper and bigger than I’ve ever felt ready to talk about,” she said.
Winter and the cast of “Modern Family” finished filming the show in 2020. At the time, the actress and her boyfriend, actor Luke Benward, chose to get out of Los Angeles.
However, Winter is still pursuing acting along with producing. Some personal projects include starting a podcast and developing a cooking show, according to People magazine.
“I didn’t leave the industry,” she told the outlet.
“I just left the city of L.A,” Winter explained. “It holds some not-great memories for me, and I’m young and never lived anywhere else, and thought, ‘Why not?’ If you’re no longer on a network show that shoots there, you don’t really have to be there, and if I get a network show, I can easily go back.”
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