Ariel Winter Feels More Confident After Breast Reduction Surgery
Actress Ariel Winter from ‘Modern Family.’ (Photo: Instagram)
In an exclusive interview with Glamour, 17-year-old pint-sized Modern Family star Ariel Winter revealed that she got breast reduction surgery on July 4th — and it greatly improved her life and self-confidence. Before her reduction surgery, which reduced her breasts from 32 F to 34 D, she was constantly criticized for dressing “too mature” on the red carpet. “There was so little that I could wear that was age-appropriate,” she told Glamour. “I’d have to wear the dress that was super tight and form-fitted everywhere because if I didn’t, it didn’t look good. I didn’t really have an option other than to wear fitted clothes.” At age 15, headlines would appear about her breasts on the red carpet instead of about her work in Modern Family. “It’s hard when you’re a teenage girl and you already have a lot of ridicule and then you pile on more, and it’s kind of…it just gets too much,” she said. “That’s pretty much all I was known for and that upset me. It made me feel really uncomfortable because as women in the industry, we are totally over sexualized and treated like objects.” She told Glamour that even at age 14, people were asking Winter if her breasts were “fake.” “We live in a society that that’s what they think about,” she said.
There was physical pain involved with her breasts, too. “I had a lot of back problems. I really couldn’t stand up straight for a long period of time,” she told Glamour. “It started to hurt so bad that I couldn’t take the pain. My neck was hurting so bad and I actually had some problems with my spine.” Her doctor, in fact, told her that her post-surgery feeling would be relief — and for Winter, the post-reduction emotions also involved joy. “I was buying clothes and crying as I put them on, I was so happy,” she recalled. “You just feel so relieved and excited. You feel like a new person. You feel like this is how I was supposed to be.”
Teenage celebrities are under a lot of pressure and criticism in the press — just look at the daily headlines surrounding Kylie Jenner — and there’s constant debate about them being too sexy or not sexy enough. Recently, singer Iggy Azalea came out to Seventeen about being more confident after getting a nose job. Like Winter, she didn’t want her body alterations to be seen as a source of shame amongst teenage girls: “I don’t think you should be ashamed if you made a change to yourself, which is why I’ve spoken about the changes I’ve made.” For Winter, breast reduction has helped her not only become more confident, but also become more of herself. “I felt more happy with myself than I ever have. I am living a dream that a lot of girls my age would love to be living, and I’m aware of that,” she told Glamour. “I’m really grateful that I’m able to do that and have a voice that I’m able to speak to teenagers. I don’t want to do anything to mess that up.”
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