Ariel Winter Is Now Roommates With Nolan Gould After Breakup

Alex and Luke Dunphy are back under the same roof — and this time, it’s real life. Ariel Winter revealed in an exclusive interview with People that she and her Modern Family costar Nolan Gould are now actual roommates, renting a home together in Los Angeles.

“It’s funny because I spend more time out here now and I rent a house with Nolan,” the 28-year-old said. “People ask me about a Modern Family reboot, but Nolan and I are real roommates now. So it’s like we’re having our own little Modern Family reboot, but it’s just the two of us living together. So I see him every day.”

The timing is significant. The roommate reveal comes just days after Winter confirmed she and actor Luke Benward had ended their relationship after nearly six years together. She had been splitting her time between Nashville — where she lived with Benward and their four rescue dogs — and California. Now it sounds like LA has the upper hand.

“People Would Find This Really Funny”

If you’re already picturing a reality show, you’re not alone. Winter says she and Gould have actually floated the idea themselves.

“I’m not gonna lie, when we sit there at night and we watch, like, Temptation Island together, it’s pretty hilarious,” she said. “So we have thought about it. We’re just like, ‘People would find this really funny.’”

Honestly? She’s not wrong.

The two have been close since they were the youngest members of the Modern Family cast — Winter joined at 11, Gould at 10 — and that bond never faded after the show wrapped its 11-season run in 2020. “I’m extremely close to Nolan,” Winter has said. “He plays my little brother, and he and I are still best friends.”

She’s also been open about how hard it was when the show ended. “We really were like a real family,” she told People. “It was weird knowing it would just be over, and I wouldn’t get to see everybody all the time anymore. It was like, ‘Wait, yeah, wait, we’re not going to be together on Monday?’ So on the one hand, I didn’t want it to end, but at the same time I was ready to start something new as an adult.”

On the Breakup With Luke Benward

Winter addressed her split from Benward directly, responding to People’s Instagram post about the news on May 14 with characteristic warmth. “He’s still one of my best friends, a great human being and a great pup coparent,” she wrote. “Just because sometimes people aren’t meant to be doesn’t mean you don’t still appreciate the time spent and retain the friendship you shared. Still a big Luke fan over here!!!”

It’s a graceful exit from a relationship she once described in deeply optimistic terms. “There are so many things that go into a partnership, but I think what I find so important is a ‘best friendship,’” she told E! News in 2024. “I feel like, if you have that foundation, you really can weather a lot of storms.” She also said at the time: “I believe a relationship is more than just love. I believe it’s respect. I believe it’s work.”

Clearly the friendship part, at least, is still intact — and she’s leaning into her other best friendship in the meantime.

A Busy Season for Winter

The living situation isn’t the only thing keeping Winter busy right now. She’s also reprising her voice role as Princess Sofia in Sofia the First: Royal Magic, the Disney revival set to premiere May 25 and 26 on Disney Jr. and Disney+. The reboot promises refreshed music, cross-genre influences, and appearances from Disney princesses including Ariel and Moana.

For Winter, going back to Sofia has been an emotional full-circle moment. “It’s so nostalgic for me because I remember my audition in 2011 and just waiting for my callback and thinking ‘It would be so cool to be a Disney princess,’” she said, reflecting on landing the role at 13. “Then getting the job and watching my nieces, who were 2 at the time, growing up with Sofia.”

She added that her nieces recently called her and rapped the theme song — and when she told them the show was coming back, they were thrilled. That reaction, she said, made the whole thing even more meaningful.

Between the new roommate situation, the Sofia comeback, and what sounds like a genuinely entertaining living arrangement with her onscreen little brother, Ariel Winter’s next chapter is shaping up to be a good one. Someone really should pitch that reality show.