It’s been more than five years since Modern Family ended in 2020, and Ariel Winter, who played Alex Dunphy on all 11 seasons of the show, has mostly retreated from the spotlight. The actress moved from Los Angeles to Nashville with her boyfriend, Luke Benward, in 2022, and spoke to People in a rare interview about what she’s up to now.

“I didn’t leave the industry,” she confirmed. Winter has had a few voice roles since Modern Family and has also started getting into producing, in addition to acting. In fact, she’s the producer on a film she’s starring in this year called Don’t Log Off.

For the most part, she and Benward live a quiet life with their six dogs. She has taken up cooking as a hobby and passion and said she’s currently developing a cooking show.

Winter also works with the organization SOSA (Safe From Online Sex Abuse) and works to catch online sexual predators. She previously claimed to be a “victim of grooming online and [in real life],” and has publicly accused her mom, Chrisoula Workman, of abuse, which Workman has denied (when Winter was 14, her older sister became her legal guardian.)

Since Winter grew up in Los Angeles, and she did not have good childhood memories, she was inspired to leave the city once work was no longer tying her there.

“I just left the city of L.A. It holds some not-great memories for me, and I’m young and never lived anywhere else, and thought, ‘Why not?’” she explained. “If you’re no longer on a network show that shoots there, you don’t really have to be there, and if I get a network show, I can easily go back.”

Now, through her work with SOSA, Winer hopes to “help others and shine a spotlight on those that need it.” She added, “More than anything, I want my story to be that she uses her platform for good. My journey to figuring things out and healing is now through helping other people. That’s all I care about.”