Back on the dating scene? Ariel Winter appears to be getting cozy with actor Luke Benward following her split from ex-boyfriend Levi Meaden two months ago.
Photos published online by E! News show Winter, 21, and Benward, 24, stopping by West Hollywood restaurant Delilah on Wednesday, December 11. According to the site, the Modern Family star had just attended Benward’s reading of Really Really at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.
Meanwhile, pics posted online earlier this week appear to show the duo kissing on Sunday, December 8, just hours after Meaden, 32, collected belongings from Winter’s home in Studio City, California, according to Daily Mail.
Benward starred in the 2018 Netflix film Dumplin’ opposite Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston, and he appeared in the movies Dear John and Life of the Party. On television, he starred in the Pretty Little Liars spinoff Ravenswood and recurred on the series Good Luck Charlie and Girl Meets World. He also appeared in the 2018 Jason Aldean music video “You Make It Easy.”
Us Weekly confirmed Winter and Meaden’s breakup in October. The former couple started dating in November 2016 but hadn’t been spotted together since August.
Three months before news of the split broke, Winter praised the Breaking In actor. “He’s a wonderful person. He’s always there for me … all the time,” she exclusively told Us in July. “He’s always trying to make me feel good about myself, but also just to be there for me as a person, you know? Just as me, as Ariel. That’s hard to find … people who just take you for you. The good, the bad, the ugly — everything.”
Meaden, meanwhile, dished on the relationship to Us in 2018, explaining how he and Winter supported each other’s acting careers. “I’ll run lines with her, for sure, and she will kind of give me some advice, and I’ll ask her how she thinks it’s working out,” he told Us at the time. “We don’t really sit down and discuss [potential projects], it just comes up as we talk and let each other know what’s going on … and get ideas from each other about what we can bring to the character. Just fun, simple ideas.”
He went on: “There are a lot of times where we both realize we’re just stressed and we need a date night or one of us just needs to take a break and do something completely quiet and calm: meditate, hiking or a massage and just kind of step out of this whirlwind.”
Winter previously dated singer-songwriter Laurent Gaudette from 2013 to 2016.
