“Modern Family” star Ariel Winter opened up about the “trauma” she faced after older men sent her “inappropriate messages” while working the TV show as a minor.
“I don’t want to say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men,” Winter, 27, who was 11 years old when the series premiered in 2009, said in an interview published Thursday with The Daily Mail. “And it caused trauma.” Winter starred as Alex Dunphy for all the show’s 11 seasons.
The actress shared that she had to take up therapy to overcome the trauma she endured over the years as a child star.
“The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that I’ve had to go to therapy for it,” Winter, who now will be going undercover as an underage decoy in an effort to catch alleged sexual predators for the YouTube true crime documentary series “SOSA Undercover,” said.
“The movie and TV industry is a dark place,” Winter added.
This is not the first time Winter opened up about the challenges she’s faced growing up in Hollywood. Back in May, Winter shared that she received rude emails and messages about her weight. She also mentioned that her body has been the subject of several stories in media.
“It was just everywhere,” Winter told People at the time. “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 slut. I mean, I was 14. It totally damaged my self-esteem.”
While she told People that she remains open to acting, adding that she’s truly never stepped away from Hollywood completely, she is passionate about using her platform to help young girls and women.
“Growing up in the entertainment industry, I’ve been the girl we are trying to save,” she told The Daily Mail. “It’s vital to me to help protect young women from the experiences I endured in my own life.”
