Since the pandemic, "nothing's in person anymore," she noted. "I can do anything I want, anywhere. And so it's been beautiful to be able to do that, do new things, do everything, wherever I want to be."
It also gave her some space to pursue projects and causes that mattered to her, as well as get back in the movie game when she felt like it.
Hence Winter celebrating her 28th birthday on Jan. 28 many miles away from where she started, literally and figuratively. And that includes the distance she wanted to put between herself and her most known acting roles.
“I went to high school and then I’ve now gotten into cooking and I do voice acting," she said, "and I do this and I do that, and I’m a dog mom, and I’m out here in the public and I’m also not. So I think that that’s kind of helped me.”
Winter explained, “I think I’ve just always done my own thing...I had guidance from like 14 to 18, and my sister was an incredible influence in my life. I had that for sure. But I’ve figured so much stuff out on my own. And it’s been kind of a great thing for me to just feel free enough in the sense to be like, ‘All right, I’m just going to do this over here and I’m going to do that.'”
This and that includes the activism that landed her on a podium at the 2024 Legacy Ball being honored by Benward and Gould. Plus, she's a producer on the docuseries SOSA Undercover, about the efforts of the organization SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse) to combat online child sex abuse and trafficking.
Watching Underage Undercover, about SOSA, inspired her to get involved. The show "just impacted me deeply because I was that kid so many times over that was preyed upon in person online," she told E!. "I was just like, God, I would love to be able to help be a part of that. I don't want to say there's a solution, but I would love to help take some of these people off the streets."
Meanwhile, supporting her every step of the way, no matter the direction, has been Good Luck Charlie alum Benward, her longtime pal turned boyfriend of now six years.
And warnings that leaving L.A. would take its toll on her career have failed to pan out.
"It was like, 'Oh, so you're done,'" Winter, who shared in four SAG Award wins with the Modern Family cast for best performance by an ensemble in a comedy series, recalled hearing. "Like, 'You're not going to work again, that's great, so you're done in the entertainment industry.'"
But, Winter said, "It hasn't ruined anything for my work."
Curated by Antonio Rossi
