Ariel Winter’s newest job is not what you’d expect. The 27-year-old has been helping the nonprofit Safe from Online Sex Abuse (SOSA) nab child predators. The former “Modern Family” star even went undercover in Oklahoma City, posing as a blonde 12-year-old.
“It’s definitely cathartic to be teaming with SOSA, knowing that I can make a difference,” Winter told DailyMail. “It can be scary at times pretending to be 12 and talking to older men, but it’s validating to put away predators that have been harming children.”
The actress can also be seen in the upcoming horror film “Don’t Log Off.” She plans to help SOSA “as long as I can.”
Ariel Winter Opens Up About Hollywood Trauma: ‘I Had to Go to Therapy’
“Growing up in the entertainment industry, I’ve been the girl we are trying to save,” she told DailyMail. “It’s vital to me to help protect young women from the experiences I endured in my own life.”
Winter started working in Hollywood when she was four years old. When she was five, she was on an episode of “One Life to Live.” At age seven, she got a role in her first film, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. She was 11 years old when she got the role as Alex Dunphy on “Modern Family.”
“I donât 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 causes trauma,” she said. “The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that Iâve had to go to therapy for it. The movie and TV industry is a dark place.”
Ariel Winter Warns of ‘Normal-Looking’ Predators Targeting Young Girls
‘Finding someone is hard because they donât use their real name or handle and we have to do research into who these people are,’ she told DailyMail. “You see a lot of dark things when you start investigating who is after pre-teen girls.”
Winter was surprised to learn that “hundreds of thousands of men” are trying to talk to 12 and 13-year-olds.
“These men also look like normal, nice guys – they donât look like predators,” she revealed. “They look like the guy next-door and theyâre usually married and have children. The men seem nice because they have pets and they show you pictures of their dogs. They talk about their everyday life and they seem like sweet men. But the truth is they want to spend time with a 12-year-old girl, they ask inappropriate questions and want to know if parents are around.”
While working with SOSA, she learned of a man who “was almost 40 years old. He wanted to take an 11-year-old girl shopping for a new bra. Thatâs not normal. Itâs not good.”
‘This whole experience has been heartbreaking because I think of how young these girls are and theyâre being approached by much older men,’ Winter added. SOSA’s YouTube channel is available for those interested in viewing their documentary-style videos. Winter can be seen in Episode 2.
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