Ariel Winter's Modern Family character just left for college, and the actress is enjoying a new chapter in her young adult life, too.

Ariel attended Teen Vogue's 13th Annual Young Hollywood Issue Launch Party on Friday (October 2), where she stunned in a sleek all-black jumpsuit. She also spoke to E! on the red carpet about what life is like after the breast reduction surgery she elected to have earlier this year.

"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," she says. "I'm able to finally be happy."

The actress explained her decision to have the surgery in a Glamour story back in August. In addition to the back strain and general physical discomfort, she said she'd “feel really uncomfortable, because as women in the industry, we are totally over-sexualized and treated like objects. Every article that has to do with me on a red carpet had to do with ‘Ariel Winter’s Crazy Cleavage!’ or ‘Ariel Winter Shows Huge Boobs at an Event!’ That’s all people would recognize me by — not, ‘Oh she does great work on Modern Family.”

Ariel's boyfriend, Laurent Claude Gaudette, accompanied her to the event. The two met in high school, but she admits that she jumpstarted a closer relationship over text many months ago. And good thing she did: "It's really great to be in love with someone who is so great and so supportive," she told E!.

One future project that's most on her mind? Attending college, just like her Modern Family counterpart Alex!

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