It’s never easy to be a child star. Even if you have a healthy, stable home life, it can be difficult to deal with the highs and lows of fame as a juvenile. That’s not counting the work schedules, trying to keep up with schooling, and still trying to be a kid, so it’s not always surprising when super successful child stars drop out of the limelight for at least a little while upon reaching adulthood. Young women have to try to reconcile growing up with their fandoms, which can be incredibly difficult, while also trying to pave a career and a way forward for themselves. For “Modern Family” star Ariel Winter, it was all just a little bit too much.
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The actor, who portrayed academic overachiever middle daughter Alex Dunphy on the long-running hit ABC sitcom, seemed to disappear from Hollywood entirely for a while after the end of “Modern Family” in 2020, leading fans of the bright, charismatic young star to wonder what happened. In a recent interview with People magazine, Winter revealed that she took a very conscious step away from Los Angeles after the series wrapped, but noted that we shouldn’t count her out of show business entirely just yet.
Winter survived a traumatic childhood and needed distance from Hollywood
Like many child stars, Winter got into the industry young, starring in her first commercial when she was just 4 years old. She joined the cast of “Modern Family” at the age of 11, and essentially went through her teen years in front of millions of viewers. That’s brutal on its own, honestly, as anyone who had an awkward phase as a teen can attest, but she also had to deal with the feedback that came with that massive audience. She told People:
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“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. 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.'”
Other former child stars, like “Captain Marvel” star Brie Larson, have been vocal about how difficult it can be as a young woman in Hollywood, and the real damage it can do to their self-esteem. Unfortunately, Winter has also alleged that her mother was abusive toward her, and her older sister was eventually given legal guardianship of Winter until she reached adulthood. When “Modern Family” ended, she wanted to get away from Los Angeles because it was where she had endured her worst trauma, but she told People that she still loves acting and “didn’t leave the industry” despite leaving L.A.
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Winter’s performance on Modern Family was pitch-perfect
It’s really a shame that Winter endured so much at such a young age, in part because of her child stardom, because she’s absolutely phenomenal as Alex Dunphy. Pretty much everyone in the greater ensemble cast of “Modern Family” is funny, but she almost always serves as the series’ straight man, pointing out the complete lunacy of the situations her family finds themselves in. Her line delivery is perfectly deadpan, mirroring that of her character’s mother Claire (Julie Bowen) somewhat, though she really grows to have a comedic sensibility all of her own. She’s part of the glue that holds “Modern Family” together, with plenty of standout moments in some of the show’s best episodes.
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While it sounds like Winter might be done with sitcoms, “Modern Family” creator Steven Levitan is still creating new shows and has even said there could be a place for more traditional multi-cam sitcoms in the future, which would give the duo a chance to reunite and do something pretty wildly different creatively. Here’s hoping that whatever Winter does next, she enjoys it, because she’s earned a good time and some rest.