“Modern Family” star Ariel Winter opened up about her harrowing experience that occurred as a fun girl to catch a sexual predator of children.
The 27-year-old actress, who played Alex Dunphy on the hit Sitcom “Modern Family” from 2009 to 2020, joined forces with the non-profit safe for online sexual abuse (SOSA) for an undercover Angel operation that was shown in the True Crime Docuseries “Sosa Belcover.”
In the premiere episode, Winter pretended to be a 12-year-old girl to seduce a 31-year-old predator in Oklahoma City.
During an interview with the Daily mail Published Friday, Winter explained how she felt about serving as a bait in the operation.
“It is absolutely cathartic to work with SOSA, knowing that I can make a difference,” said Winter.
“It can sometimes be scary that occurs when 12 and talk to older men, but it validates to store predators who harm children,” she continued.
“Growing up in the entertainment industry, I have been the girl we are trying to save,” Winter added. “It is vital for me to help young women protect against the experiences I have endured in my own life.”
Winter wore a blonde wig with a pony to play the role of the fake 12-year-old. In one scene, the winter was seen on a bed in a room that was performed to look like a child’s bedroom. The actress adopted a childish voice while facing the predator, which she called ‘Dad’.
“It can sometimes be scary that occurs when 12 and talk to older men, but it validates to store predators who harm children,” she continued.
“Growing up in the entertainment industry, I have been the girl we are trying to save,” Winter added. “It is vital for me to help young women protect against the experiences I have endured in my own life.”
Winter wore a blonde wig with a pony to play the role of the fake 12-year-old. In one scene, the winter was seen on a bed in a room that was performed to look like a child’s bedroom. The actress adopted a childish voice while facing the predator, which she called ‘Dad’.
“I was surprised by the volume how many men were there looking to talk to young girls who were 12 or 13. It’s hundreds of thousands of men,” Winter continued.
“These men also look like normal, nice boys – they don’t look like predators,” she added. “They look like the man, and they are usually married and get children. The men seem nice because they have pets, and they show you pictures of their dogs. They talk about their daily lives, and they seem dear men. But the truth is that they want to spend time with a 12-year-old girl, they ask inappropriate questions and want to know if parents are near.”
“A man was almost 40 years old and he wanted to take an 11-year-old girl who shopping for a new bra. That’s not normal. It’s not good.”
The actress told the outlet that seeing adult men who were looking for girls who ranging from 12 to 14 years old was “wild”.
“This whole experience has been heartbreaking, because I think of how young these girls are and are approached by many older men,” she said.
“I am familiar with male predators, because I worked in Hollywood at a young age, I started at the age of four,” added Winter, who made her TV debut in a cool Whip commercial from 2002.
“I don’t want to say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and mobile phone, I received inappropriate messages from older men, and it causes trauma,” she went on.
“The experiences I personally and online as a child have struck me so deeply that I had to go to therapy,” Winter explained. “The film and TV industry is a dark place.”
Winter noticed how easy it can be for vulnerable children to become prey for perpetrators for adults.
“Children are looking for online relationships because they are lonely or bored, and then they find a man and think they can make contact with them, don’t realize that they are so much older and actually predators with bad intentions,” she said.
The resident of Virginia told The Outlet that she was planning to stay volunteer for SOSA.
“I like to work with SOSA because it is women who help women, and I will be as long as I can,” said Winter.
In February, SOSA shared a clip From the premiere episode on Instagram prior to the release on March 20. At the time, Winter commented on the video while she thought frankly about her real experiences with sexual abuse of children.
“I was a victim of taking care of online and IRL and CSA online,” Winter wrote. “The effects are lifelong and inescapable. This has always been a problem, but in the digital age it only escalates to more extreme levels and in more manipulative ways.”
She continued: “The access predators have all the children of this time immeasurable. This issue must be brought further into the light and fought with everything we have. These are very real situations in which real men commit very real crimes, are arrested by real law enforcement that is asked us to help who is with us every step.”
“SOSA helps to get real convictions and remove these perpetrators from the street,” Winter added. “It is not easy to do this work, but it is so worth knowing that we have even helped to protect one child.”
