Ariel Winter covered Pulse Spikes winter issue looking fresh faced and stunning in a completely unretouched spread.
“It was definitely more of a difficult process for me,” she said to the publication about shooting an unaltered feature. “It is just something you think about like, ‘Oh, well I am going to be photographed in this setting. Oh no, what if I look weird? I got a pimple today!’ But it was nice to be able to do that.”
The Modern Family actress stripped down wearing minimal makeup complete with a neutral eye shadow and a tinted pink lip balm. But it’s her adorable freckles that really pop in the close-up shot.
The brunette beauty has faced a lot of scrutiny when it comes to how she looks. In fact, just two days before she posted the magazine cover on her Instagram, she shared photos from her friend’s 21st birthday party on which trolls felt the need to comment on her appearance.
While some commented on her weight, others implied that she had plastic surgery. “Nothing wrong with being honest and telling her we liked her better before ‘the change’ she was so beautiful before she started chopping up her body,” one commenter wrote. “And if me saying so helps one girl out here to feel beautiful who’s thinking of PS [plastic surgery] it’s worth it.”
This comment pushed the actress to write back, “I appreciate you wanting to help girls love themselves the way they are, but you are also kind of cutting someone (me) down which isn’t what I think you were trying to do? I also didn’t get plastic surgery. That is also not supportive of women if you’re just assuming about the way they look.”
It has taken the 21-year-old a lot of time and self-reflection to get to a point where she feels ready to say this. She told the magazine that in high school she struggled getting over what everyone else thought of her. But then she had an epiphany. “I realized that it didn’t matter… the only person that matters is me because I am the only one who has to live with me,” she said. “Taking time to think about that and understand what is going on and why you feel that way, instead of brushing it aside, is important. Why live hating yourself when there is no real reason to?”
This kind of reminder is so important for all young women. Which is why we love to see her not only speaking this message, but living it through naturally beautiful images.
