Modern Family star Ariel Winter is opening up on the harrowing experiences she dealt with as a child star in Hollywood. “I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age, I started at age four,” Winter, 27, told the Daily Mail in an interview published Thursday. “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, who starred in Modern Family as Alex Dunphy for 11 seasons, was just 11 when she joined the hit sitcom in 2009. The actress has since become an advocate for child safety and has helped nonprofit SOSA, Safe from Online Sex Abuse, with undercover operations busting child predators. “It’s definitely cathartic to be teaming with SOSA, knowing that I can make a difference,” Winter told The Daily Mail. “Growing up in the entertainment industry, I’ve been the girl we are trying to save. It’s vital to me to help protect young women from the experiences I endured in my own life.”
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