Just In Case Ariel Winter is Looking for a New Chaperone...

The mother of a young star on ABC's "Modern Family" is denying allegations that she physically and mentally abused her daughter.

A guardianship for Ariel Winter, 14, whose real name is Ariel Workman, has been granted on a temporary basis to sister Shanelle Gray, also an actress, after Winter alleged in a court filing that she was subject to ongoing abuse.

A judge last month ordered the actress' mother, Chrisoula Workman, to stay away from Winter and have no contact with the minor pending a Nov. 20 hearing on the guardianship and control of at least $500,000 in assets.

"Minor Ariel Workman has been a victim of on-going physical abuse (slapping, hitting, pushing) and emotional abuse (vile name calling, personal insults about minor and minor’s weight, attempts to sexualize minor, deprivation of food etc.) for an extended period of time by the minor’s mother, Chrisoula Workman….," her attorneys said in a petition for guardianship.

Workman told People magazine she did not abuse her daughter.

"It's all untrue, it's all untrue," she said to the magazine. "I have my doctor's letter that my daughter's never been abused.... I have stylists' letters that she's never been abused."

Ariel Winter, who first began acting as a 7-year-old, plays Alex Dunphy, the brainy, bespectacled member of the Dunphy clan in "Modern Family."

As is standard practice in such cases, an attorney is representing the interests of the young actress. To protect her earnings and existing assets, lawyers are seeking to move her money to accounts off limits from her mother.

source: latimes.com