Where Is Modern Family Star Ariel Winter Now? Why The Child Star Left LA Behind

Ariel Winter became a household name during her time on the Los Angeles-based "Modern Family," but she made a very big move away from the city (and across the country) in 2022. These days, the actor lives on the outskirts of Nashville — and while she wouldn't rule out the odd work trip, she's made it clear she's way happier now. 

Winter first spoke about moving to Tennessee in a May 2022 appearance on her on-screen mom, Julie Bowen's podcast, "Quitters." Despite how big a move it was, she shared that it had been a near-split-second decision after her sister suggested it. Less than two weeks after talking about it, she was all-in, and soon enough she was settling into her new home shared with boyfriend Luke Benward.

Winter went on to share that one of the main reasons she was so keen to make the move was because she no longer felt as though she could go about her day without being hounded by the paparazzi — and it certainly didn't help that when pictures of her did end up in the press, there was generally a very negative angle to it. As such, she explained, "I don't feel comfortable walking my dog down the street. If my dog gets off-leash, I can't be like, 'Chloe, what the f**k! Get back here!' It's gonna be, 'Ariel Winter: Rescue Advocate Screaming and Abusing Dog.'" Suffice it to say, these days Winter, Benward, and their dogs are living their best lives, and in addition to regular posts featuring the pack on her Instagram. In early May 2025, she did a photoshoot with them (well, the dogs anyway) for People, telling the outlet how much more at ease she felt in her new home.

Of course, being able to walk her dogs was just one of the reasons why Ariel Winter was so keen to give up Los Angeles. The actor has also long spoken up about her estranged relationship with her mother, and in her People interview, she shared that, coupled with all the press attention she got in her early teens, meant she had pretty bad associations with the city for most of her life. "It holds some not-great memories for me," she told the outlet.

Granted, that's not to say every memory of the city Winter had was a bad one. On the contrary, in her interview on "Quitters," she shared that moving away from many of her friends was tough. Notably, Winter has remained close with a number of her "Modern Family" co-stars, publicly referring to her on-screen brother Nolan Gould as her "best friend" to People and having a sisterly bond with screen sibling Sarah Hyland IRL, too. Winter has also long gushed about her sister Shanelle Workman being her rock throughout her turbulent upbringing, sharing in a 2016 episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that "she's been the best part of my life." 

As we said, Winter mentioned in "Quitters" that it was her sister who brought up the idea of moving to Tennessee and that she wanted to move as well. Given their closeness through it all, we'd guess that was one of the actor's biggest reasons for leaving LA behind. As for the possibility of more work bringing her back at some point? Winter hasn't ruled that out, telling People, "If I get a network show, I can easily go back." In the meantime, it's pretty clear she's happy to be somewhere more low-key, and we're happy for her.