The decision regarding where young actress Ariel Winter will live has been made, although it hasn’t been made public yet and nothing will be put into motion until the end of March. Until that time, Winter will continue to live with her older sister, Shanelle Gray, who is also an actress and an acting studio executive.
Winter, who plays Alex Dunphy on “Modern Family”, will turn 15 in January and says her mother–Chrystal Workman–is not only controlling, she is physically and emotionally abusive towards her children. Gray testified that she had to be removed from the home as a teenager by social services under claims of similar behavior and that the home is not safe for Winter. Workman has admitted to being controlling but says she has never been abusive; child protective services temporarily removed Winter from her home in October after finding evidence of emotional abuse, but say they have no concrete evidence of physical abuse.
“A controlling mother does not mean she’s unfit,” her attorney, Anita Gumm, said at a recent hearing.
The decision about guardianship has been made before the case could go to trial, but it is as yet unclear who Winter will be living with next year. For now, her father has control of her finances.
