Why Ariel Winter Just Packed Up and Left Hollywood

Appearing on her "Modern Family" costar Julie Bowen's "Quitters" podcast this week, the 24-year-old actress opened up about her and boyfriend Luke Benward's recent decision to sell her home, pack up their pooches and leave Los Angeles behind.

"People have always been like, 'You don't like L.A., why don't you just move' ... and then I just randomly looked and decided why not," said Winter, who didn't disclose where she moved to for privacy reasons.

"We sold our cars, got an Escalade to fit all the dogs for the drive, put my house on the market, sold my house," she continued. "It was hard for me to decide that because I'm leaving everybody I know in California ... it's a quick flight to California and I had to remind myself, if I don't like it, I can leave."

Explaining why she was keeping her new location a secret, she broke down her biggest problem with living in Hollywood.

"Part of the reason I always hated L.A. was because I have been followed by paparazzi for a very long portion of my life, and I really, really dislike having my space invaded. I don't like pictures of me when I haven't signed up for pictures of me. I don't like feeling watched," she told Bowen. "I've always just wanted to live a normal life, just have a normal existence and I never really felt like I could do that in L.A.. Everywhere I went, someone's taking my picture. I'm just not that person. Fame and all that is not something I'm interested in. I just wanted to live as normal a life as I could."

Winter said that the paparazzi started following her early on in her life, around the time she started going through custody issues with her family. Over time, the attention only grew and, in Winter's eyes, the cameras were just trying to catch her doing something they could "twist" into a negative light.

"I don't feel comfortable walking my dog down the street. If my dog gets off leash I can't be like, 'What the f---, get back here!' It's going to be: 'Ariel Winter, rescue advocate, screaming and abusing dog' when really I'm just trying not to let my dog get hit in the street," she explained. "Everything normal that I would do, it's not going to stay normal ... it's really just about the feeling of not being comfortable to do normal things. It feels like a different thing here, I'm going to get to live some of the young adult I haven't been able to live."

She said that part of her move was so she could be, 'Haha, you're not going to get s--- about" her now -- and that anything out there about her will be "what I want to put out there." Winter added, "I've never wanted everybody to know everything about my life. I'm not a particularly open person. I want to have privacy and I've never really had privacy to just live my life."

When asked whether she was concerned she may be the "most interesting person" in the new town thanks to her famous face, Winter wasn't bothered. She said her new location is actually attracting quite a few celebrities, so she wouldn't be the "only industry person" where she moved. Winter also said she looked forward to having conversations that didn't revolve around Hollywood.

Winter revealed that since the move she's already landed an acting gig back in Los Angeles. Her plan is to find a place to rent in L.A. for work and simply go back and forth. She concluded, "It makes me so happy life is going to be the way I always hoped it could be."