Modern Family actress opens up about breast reduction surgery

Los Angeles - Ariel Winter worried about criticism after her breast reduction surgery.

The 17-year-old actress decided to undergo the dramatic procedure earlier this year after suffering from back pain due to her large chest, and she admits she didn't expect such a supportive reaction from her fans.

Ariel told PEOPLE.com: "I thought I would get a lot more criticism about, 'Oh, you did surgery. You changed yourself, blah, blah, blah ... ' Which a lot of people say, but I received so much support from women and young girls.

"Girls are tweeting me and saying like, 'Oh, this wouldn't be accepted where I am, but now that you did it and opened a conversation about it, I can actually like talk to my friends and family about the possibility of this.'"

Meanwhile, the Modern Family star has recently found love with high school sweetheart Laurent Claude Gaudette, who revealed that Ariel made the first move on him.

He said: "I received a text from her. That's the first interaction I remember with her and I send very short responses, and her first thing that she sent to me was a giant, long, paragraph."

Ariel added: "I sent this giant, long paragraph about like, 'Hi, I'm Ariel. Nice to meet you.' Like just all this stuff about myself."