United Kingdom, July 11 -- Ariel Winter received "inappropriate messages from older men" when she was a child.

The 27-year-old star found fame through her role as Alex Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family and has revealed how she had to deal with the unwanted attention of "male predators" from an early age.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Ariel said: "I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age. I started at age four. I don't wanna say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men, and it caused trauma."

She added: "The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that I've had to go to therapy for it. ...