--- title: Ariel Winter Breast Reduction Surgery description: The 'Modern Family' actress discusses why her breast reduction surgery was the right decision for her. canonical: https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/ author: Ariel Winter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-24T12:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:01:51.777Z og:title: Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life og:description: 'I chose surgery because of how I felt, not because of how anyone else thought' og:url: https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6845b0ea219c6c82/69887ed0e20a8759c0a8fae2/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ariel-Winter-breast-reduction-surgery og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life twitter:description: 'I chose surgery because of how I felt, not because of how anyone else thought' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6845b0ea219c6c82/69887ed0e20a8759c0a8fae2/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life by [Ariel Winter](https://time.com/author/ariel-winter/) ## Ariel Winter Feb 24, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  www.collinstark.com by [Ariel Winter](https://time.com/author/ariel-winter/) ## Ariel Winter Feb 24, 2016 12:00 PM UTC My life changed over the course of a summer. I came back to film season 3 of _Modern Family_, and I knew that I looked totally different than when we’d wrapped season 2\. Suddenly, I was just over 5 feet tall and was an F-cup. Women are already over-sexualized, and I grew into my body so young. I was 13, 14 years old, and I looked 19\. Suddenly, people didn’t want to talk about my job—they just wanted to talk about my cleavage. I’d go to awards shows and the next day see everyone on the Internet telling me I shouldn’t look like this and dress like that. The conversation became about my looks instead of my talent and work—everything that I didn’t want. I even started getting messages from older male fans, and let’s just say they were gross. Sometimes, it felt like even my work was defined by my body. I was offered a lot of older roles because I wasn’t able to play “younger” anymore. It’s really difficult to be such a small girl and have so much weight on your chest. You physically hurt. You can’t find clothes that fit right. I couldn’t find a cute bathing suit. Everything looked like I was trying to be “sexy.” It didn’t help that I didn’t look like any of my friends my age. **_Read more:_**[_How I Finally Learned to Love My Body_](http://motto.time.com/4214574/learned-to-love-my-body/) People may find it hard to believe, but when I got my breast-reduction surgery last year, it wasn’t because of the mean comments online. It wasn’t because I didn’t like how I looked. Having so much weight on my frame was affecting me psychologically. I was uncomfortable and unhappy. I chose surgery because of how I felt, not because of what anyone else thought. Afterward, I automatically felt so much happier and just _better_ physically. My back and shoulders didn’t hurt anymore! The first thing I wanted to do was go clothing shopping because I was so excited to be able to find things that fit properly instead of hiding in a baggy sweater. That meant the world to me. **_Read more:_** [_Model Precious Lee: If You Think Every Woman Who’s a Size 14 is Unhappy, You’re Wrong_](http://motto.time.com/4228429/precious-lee-boost-confidence/) Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think women should ever change themselves based on anyone else’s standards. My surgery got a lot of criticism from some people, but I’m happier for it. In the end, I think it’s all about how _you_ feel—not what other people think. _Ariel Winter is an actor best known for her role as Alex Dunphy on the Emmy Award-winning comedy series_ Modern Family_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/"},"headline":"Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life","datePublished":"2016-02-24T12:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:01:51.777Z","description":"Ariel Winter is an actor best known for her role as Alex Dunphy on the Emmy Award-winning comedy series Modern Family.","url":"https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/","keywords":["motto","feminism","health","Surgery"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6845b0ea219c6c82/69887ed0e20a8759c0a8fae2/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ariel Winter","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ariel-winter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6845b0ea219c6c82/69887ed0e20a8759c0a8fae2/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ariel-Winter-breast-reduction-surgery","caption":"","creditText":"www.collinstark.com","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/","name":"Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life"}}]}] ```