‘Modern Family’s’ Ariel Winter speaks on suffering trauma in Hollywood as a child star

Ariel Winter has spoken about the trauma she experienced as a child star in Hollywood and how it led her to support the organisation SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse), which combats online sexual predators.

“I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age. I started at age 4,” Winter told DailyMail.com. “I don't wanna say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men, and it caused trauma.”

She added, “The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that I've had to go to therapy for it. The movie and TV industry is a dark place.”

Winter, known for her role as Alex Dunphy on Modern Family, has turned her experiences into purpose by working with SOSA, an organisation that conducts sting operations against online predators by using women posing as young decoys.

“Seeing SOSA's work impacted me deeply because I was that kid so many times over that was preyed upon in person online,” she said. “I don't want to say there's a solution, but I would love to help take some of these people off the streets.”

With the encouragement of her boyfriend, Luke Benward, Winter has joined undercover missions with SOSA, describing the experience as “nerve-racking” and “very serious”.