How Ariel Winter Navigated Her Especially Rocky Transition Away From Child Stardom

Ariel Winter doesn't want to appear ungrateful. She gets how lucky she is to be a working actress, even more so when she considers she scored her breakout role, in a show with as much longevity as Modern Family, at the age of 11. 

Which is why she's so careful to bookend her answer to the inevitable "What was it like growing up on TV?" question with gushing statements about how "super lucky" she is to be on such a hit comedy and work with the best cast and crew in the game. Still, she admitted during a November appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan, "It's like a double-edged sword. 

It's fun because now, throughout the years I'll be able to look back at all of my different moments, you know, getting braces, getting braces off, going to prom. 

So, that's cool. 

But it's also hard when you start something at 11-years-old and everyone gets to see it over the years and so it's like, I get to see it and be like, 'Ha!' And everyone else gets to see it and they're like, 'Ha-ha,' and I'm like, 'Hmm.'" 

You see what she means?  

Because what was on display amounted to far more than a slightly imperfect smile and a few breakouts. While her contemporaries' angst-ridden years were fueled by less-than-interested crushes and an awkward growth spurt, Winter, who made her acting debut as a 5-year-old in a Cool Whip commercial, was dealing with family drama that made her a frequent guest in Los Angeles Superior Court and a changing body she desperately tried to keep covered, lest she have to see another headline about her "crazy cleavage" or read the umpteenth comment from a hater wondering why she was choosing to dress so inappropriately for her age. 

It was, to put it mildly, a challenge. "It was really difficult to grow up in the spotlight," she told E! News, "but to grow up with that in the spotlight was quite possibly the worst thing for someone's self esteem and confidence."