Ariel Winter Says Body Shaming While Starring In ‘Modern Family’ “Totally Damaged My Self-Esteem”

Ariel Winter is getting real about how it was growing up in front of the cameras, starring in Modern Family.

The young star landed the role of Alex Dunphy at just 11 years old, and as she got older, she faced scrutiny over her body with mean comments on social media and in the press.

“That was a major part of my teenage years,” she told People. “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. I mean, I was 14. It totally damaged my self-esteem.”

Winter played the daughter of Julie Bowen’s Claire and Ty Burrell’s Phil in the ABC comedy that ran for 11 seasons and ended in 2020. Facing the body shaming on social media was not easy for Winter as comments about her weight gain grew.

“I was on an antidepressant in high school that caused me to gain 30 lbs. I couldn’t lose that weight, but I prioritized my mental health over that weight. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my well-being,” she said. “So what could I do? When I got older, I tried a different medication to see if something was a better fit for me, and I happened to lose all that weight, and then people were like, ‘Oh, she’s on drugs’ or ‘Ew, now she’s way too skinny.’ I was just a growing, changing person. It was really, really hard to be torn down constantly.”