Ariel Winter "feels like a new person" after having breast reduction surgery

The 17-year-old star told E! News: "It's an amazing feeling to feel confident in myself and in my own skin, wearing what I wanted, putting on a bikini and not feeling like I was going to walk around and everyone was going to be staring being like, 'Are you serious?' I feel like a new person. I'm able to finally be happy.

"My fans are always so honest with me. Why not be honest with them? I thought it would help start a conversation."

Ariel's newfound confidence has already seen her land a new boyfriend, Laurent Claude Gaudette, and the sitcom star says she made the first move.

She explained: "It's really great to be in love with someone who is so great and so supportive. We met in high school. He was someone that I wanted to get to know and then I did."

The brunette beauty previously opened up about her decision to undergo breast reduction surgery after her boobs began affecting her health.

She said: "It started to hurt so bad that I couldn't take the pain. My neck was hurting so bad and I actually had some problems with my spine."

Ariel also used to find it "really hard" to find things to wear at red carpet events.

She told Glamour.com: "There was so little that I could wear that was age-appropriate. I'd have to wear the dress that was super tight and form-fitted everywhere because if I didn't, it didn't look good.

"It's hard when you're a teenage girl and you already have a lot of ridicule and then you pile on more, and it's kind of...it just gets too much. We live in a day and age where everything you do is ridiculed. The Internet bullies are awful. I could post a photo where I feel good, and 500 people will comment about how fat I am, and that I am disgusting."