Ariel Winter took on one of the hardest acting roles of her career recently when she went undercover as a 12-year-old girl to nab a sexual predator. Winter, 27, played Alex Dunphy on ABC’s series Modern Family, but she adopted a more serious role when she became part of a highly secretive operation for the nonprofit Safe from Online Sex Abuse’s YouTube docuseries, SOSA Undercover. Winter’s recent sting operation was to play a blonde preteen girl in Oklahoma City in order to lure predators out of hiding. “It can be scary at times pretending to be 12 and talking to older men, but it’s validating to put away predators that have been harming children,” she told the Daily Mail. “Growing up in the entertainment industry, I’ve been the girl we are trying to save. It’s vital to me to help protect young women from the experiences I endured in my own life.” It was also a rude awakening: “I was surprised by the volume [of] how many men were out there looking to talk to girls who were 12 or 13,” she said. “It’s hundreds of thousands of men.” Despite the dark reality, Winter felt that it was “cathartic” to be working with the organization and knowing that she can make a difference, especially when she has been through similar things.
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