Ariel Winter opened up about her mental health and revealed that she’s been taking “a bunch of medication.”
“Why am I gonna be out here, like, pretending like I don’t need something?” Winter, 25, asked during a Monday, November 6, interview on the “Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen” podcast. “Like, why am I gonna be out here pretending that I can live my life just fine without it when, like, I can’t. And, like, so many people I know can’t either.”
The Modern Family alum revealed she has been on a mental health journey for a decade.
“I started in therapy when I was 15, and I think I got on medication probably when I was, like, 16,” she shared. “And it was a really hard journey to find the right ones. It took a really long time.”
Winter tried different medications while she was in high school, but it wasn’t until after graduation that she found “a couple” of medications “that work great” for her “together.”
“At first I was like, ‘Wow, I have to take more than one,’” she recalled. “I, like, felt weird and I was like, ‘Oh, no, I feel like that pill lady.’ I have my little pill container. But over time, I was like, ‘Whatever, I feel better.’ It is what it is. What, if I have to take a couple together to be the best version of me, that’s fine.”
Winter went on to share that she has been going to therapy for two hours every week since she turned 21 years old, adding that she’s “committed” and “open” regarding her mental health journey.
“I want to be as healed as possible,” she said. “And so, yeah, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into it.”
Winter has been candid about her mental health journey over the years. In 2019, Winter addressed her weight loss when a follower asked her via Instagram why she was “so thin.” The actress revealed that her body changed because of a switch in her meds.
“The change in medication instantly made me drop all of the weight I couldn’t lose before by just giving me back a metabolism,” she shared in an Instagram Story Q&A at the time. “That was very unexpected. While I feel better mentally with the change, it’s nice to work out and have your body actually respond, but I want to gain a few pounds of muscle and get healthier. Also want my butt back.”
