Modern Family's Ariel Winter explains heartbreaking reason why she left Hollywood

9 May 2025, 17:11

By Sam Prance

Since Modern Family ended, Ariel Winter has left LA and focused on voice acting instead of being on screen.

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Modern Family's Ariel Winter has opened up about the heartbreaking reason why she left LA after the show ended.

It's impossible to imagine Modern Family without Ariel Winter. For 11 seasons, Ariel played the role of Claire and Phil's snarky and intelligent daughter Alex perfectly. Ariel was just 11 years old when the show debuted and she grew up in the public eye as she portrayed every stage of Alex's childhood, from her awkward teens to her young adulthood.

Since Modern Family finished, Ariel has taken a step back from acting on screen and now she's explained why.

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In a new interview with People, Ariel revealed that she left LA because of the way the intense body-shaming she was subjected as a child. Ariel said: “It was just everywhere. 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."

Adding more context, Ariel continued: "I mean, I was 14. It totally damaged my self-esteem. I understood what it was like to be hated. 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.'"

Ariel, who got emancipated when she was 17 years old, added: "Honestly, it’s 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.”

Now, Ariel and her boyfriend Luke Benward live outside of LA with their six dogs.

The cast of Modern Family. Picture: Alamy

Speaking about her decision to leave Hollywood, Ariel said: "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."

Ariel then said she would be open to moving back if she gets cast in a network show in future but for now she's content to live outside of the limelight.