Ariel Winter Credits Sofia Vergara for Helping Her Embrace Her Curves

Ariel Winter has quickly become one of our favorite body positive babes. From shutting down her Instagram haters, to being loud and proud of her breast reduction surgery scars, the 18-year-old actress has become a role model for those struggling with body image and self-confidence issues. So, if Winter does that for others, who is her role model? Fellow curvy woman Sophia Vergara.

In an interview with New York magazine, Winter explained that watching how Vergara embraced her body helped her from a young age. "Working with Sofia Vergara and growing up with her was great, because she was, you know, a really amazing, curvy role model for me," Winter said. "She helped me learn to accept the way I looked and love it and dress for it, and feel good about myself."

Winter also spoke about going through puberty in the public eye—she started playing Alex Dunphy at 11 years old—and how she originally tried to change how she looked to appease critics. "I would do these weird crash diets and I wanted to changed the way I dressed so people would like me on social media, and it never worked," she told the magazine. "It was always like, no matter what I did, I was always getting this negative, negative, negative backlash. After a while I was kind of like, if I can’t please them in any way, I might as well just start doing what makes me happy." Eventually, with the help of women like Vergara, Winter says she was able to focus on her relationship with herself which changed her attitude.

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More body positivity:

1. Chrissy Metz Reveals Contractual Obligation to Lose Weight for This Is Us
2. Nike's Body-Positive Bra Campaign Is All About the Curves
3. Simone Biles Was Body-Shamed by Her Coach

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Winter has continuing to help those who struggle with their own bodies and negative self-confidence by taking a stand against cyberbullying as a part of Dove's #SpeakBeautiful campaign. In an interview with Allure last month, she said: "I do my best to speak beautifully with myself, That’s what I love about this campaign. Speaking beautifully to yourself helps you speak beautifully to others. We’re the worst on ourselves." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Now, learn all about curvy model Paloma Elsesser: