"He and I are still best friends" - Ariel Winters reveals that she is 'extremely close' to onscreen brother Nolan Gould

Ariel Winter spoke affectionately of her former Modern Family co-star Nolan Gould, saying,

“He and I are still best friends.”

The duo, who played Alex and Luke Dunphy on the award-winning sitcom, spent more than a decade of their lives together on screen.

Ariel Winter, who was only 11 years old when the show started airing in 2009, mentions that the bond she and Nolan Gould had, who was also 10 at the time, is still intact.

“He plays my little brother and he and I are still best friends,” she noted.

The actress also shared her thoughts on the impact of her childhood fame, including winter’s particularly public teenage years. While she appreciated her role in Modern Family, Winter acknowledged that the attention came with a more troubling aspect, most notably, unending body shaming.

Growing up on screen and forming lifelong bonds

Ariel Winter characterized Modern Family as a "rare and life changing" experience, remarking that it is not common for a child actor to stay with a character for eleven seasons.

The cast, which included Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Sarah Hyland, and Sofia Vergara, became a second family to her. She joked that the most exciting part for her at the start was getting to work with “Al Bundy” from O’Neill’s starring role in Married… with Children.

She was surprised by the show’s immediate success and reflects on it with great appreciation, especially for the lifelong friendships it gave her, particularly with Gould, whom she still sees frequently.

Life after Modern Family: healing and advocacy

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Following the end of the show in 2020, Winter actively chose to leave Los Angeles in search of a more mentally beneficial environment. She has shared some of the issues related to mental health, including self-esteem issues resulting from the very cruel headlines aimed at her during her teenage years.

Now, she works in the entertainment industry, doing voice acting for Sofia the First, while advocating for various causes. Winter now advocates for Safe From Online Sex Abuse, a nonprofit that aims to shield children from online abusers — a mission she resonates with deeply due to her personal encounters with the limelight.

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