“I just left the city of L.A.” - Ariel Winter on moving out and rebuilding life after a traumatic childhood

Actress Ariel Winter is opening up about leaving Los Angeles and the painful memories associated with living in the city.

The actress, who appeared on the May 2025 cover story of People Magazine, spoke about moving on from her distressing childhood and said,

“I just left the city of L.A. It holds some not-great memories for me, and I’m young and never lived anywhere else, and thought, ‘Why not?’”

Winter, now 27, was a child actress who began her career while working on various television commercials. She got her big break when she landed the role of Alex Dunphy in ABC’s sitcom, Modern Family, which ran for 11 seasons from 2009 to 2020.

Winter’s character Alex was the middle child of the Dunphy family in Modern Family, which chronicled the comedic trials and tribulations of a large, unusual family unit. Sarah Hyland and Nolan Gould played Winter’s character’s siblings on the extremely popular show.

Fame came with its own trials, however, and Winter had to contend with terrible negativity and trolling online. 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 f*t s**t. 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 Winter’s troubled childhood explored

The success of Modern Family meant that details of Ariel Winter’s private life would be exposed and closely scrutinized in the media and online. As a 14-year-old, Winter was placed in emergency custody of her older sister when it was alleged that she was being physically and emotionally abused by her mother, Chrisoula Workman, The BBC reported in 2012.

BBC also noted that while child protection officers did find evidence of emotional abuse against Winter, they declared allegations of physical abuse inconclusive.

Two years later, when Winter was 16, her older sister Shanelle Gray was awarded guardianship of the actress, as per U.S. News. At the time, Winter’s father was granted control over her finances.

In 2017, the 17-year-old actress became legally emancipated, a fact that she shared with her fans on Twitter at the time, according to the LA Times. As per the news outlet, Winter wrote,

“I am now officially emancipated!!! I’m really lucky I have an amazing support system and lovely people in my life who have given me the support and guidance to have been given this wonderful opportunity.”

During a 2016 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actress shared what being emancipated meant to her. As per ABC News, she said,

“Nobody controls you anymore. You handle your own business affairs, your own living arrangements, your own money. Everything is sort of in your own hands.”

On the show, Winter also went on to reveal her struggles as a young actress. ABC noted that the actress added,

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“It's most definitely hard to grow up in the industry, but just [to] grow up in any instance without a mother from a very young age. And it has been very sad for me, but at the same time it's been much better for me emotionally and physically to be on my own and have a better, safer household and support system.”

Over the years, Ariel Winter has dealt head-on with online trolls, often calling them out on their negativity and mean-spirited comments.

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