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Ariel Winter has seen the dark underbelly of the world.

Now, she’s doing what she can to expose it to the light.

Since rising to fame as a tween actress on Modern Family, she has grown into an adult and faced a host of new drawbacks to fame.

Now, she’s opening up about male predators — both in the entertainment industry and beyond.

Ariel Winter began acting at age 4

In a new interview with The Daily Mail, Ariel Winter — who is now 27 — recalls dealing with absolute creeps as a child actress.

“I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age, I started at age four,” she pointed out.

“I don’t wanna say too much about it,” Ariel admitted.

“But by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men, and it caused trauma.”

“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,” Ariel continued. “The movie and TV industry is a dark place.”

One might point out that many industries are dark places.

However, most do not employ minors — which adds a new layer to the horrors that exist in many lines of work.

But it wasn’t all about creepy DMs from grown adults. Being on camera and in the spotlight meant that people had very public posts with their very public opinions about Ariel’s body as she grew up.

Being a public figure in her teens was a nightmare

“Having my figure written about was a major part of my teenage years,” Ariel Winter recalled.

And, before her widespread sexualization as an adult, body-shaming trolls labeled her fat, and attacked her over her figure.

‘It was just everywhere. It was every headline I read about myself,” Ariel described. “I mean, I was 14.”

Not that it matters, but she also shared that she gained weight — 30 pounds, in fact — due to an antidepressant. “My mental health was my top priority,” Ariel affirmed.

When her prescription changed, she “happened to lose all that weight.”

Unfortunately, this did not make the body-shamers go away, but simply to change to accusing her of being “way too skinny.”

Ultimately, Ariel found a sense of peace after moving out of Los Angeles.

In addition to LA having an extremely unhealthy body culture, it’s also a bustling hub of celebrities. Now that she’s moved away, Ariel can enjoy privacy and a hint of normality.

Now, Ariel Winter is working with SOSA to expose everyday predators

The reason that Ariel Winter is discussing all of this is because she participated in a true crime docuseries on YouTube.

SOSA Undercover follows the Safe from Online Sex Abuse nonprofit.

One key aspect of their work is that they are professionals and work with law enforcement to make sure that evidence that they gather can be used in court.

For the role, Ariel dressed as a 12-year-old. She is not the first adult to cosplay as a minor — drawing attention from real children and, hopefully, giving these creeps the space to incriminate themselves without ever harming an actual child.

Obviously, the primary sex abuse threats against children are usually in their own homes, family homes, and houses of worship.

But there is still a lot of threat of exploitation online. It was good of Ariel and these others to do what they can to help.