Ariel Winter’s Mom Wants Entire ‘Modern Family’ Cast In Court Over Custody Battle

Ariel Winter’s mom is trying to embroil the entire cast of Modern Family in her custody battle with her estranged daughter.

Chrystal Workman has, according to TMZ, requested that a small army of witnesses be brought onto the stand for a potential trial. All in all, Workman has stated that she wants 83 witnesses to come to the stand. She wants these individuals to testify that she isn’t a terrible mother, and that Ariel’s rightful place should be alongside her.

If Workman gets her way, the likes of Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Angela Gould, Diane Rodriguez, as well as ABC Network president Paul Lee and the show’s producer Steve Levitan could be questioned by her. That’s right, Workman doesn’t have a lawyer so she would be posing the cast with her own probing queries.

Winter has been living with her sister, Shanelle Gray, for close to two years, after reports emerged that Workman had been both emotionally and physically abusive to Winter.

It’s believed that the dispute erupted over an incident involving Winter’s boyfriend, actor Cameron Palatas. Workman reportedly walked in on her then-14-year-old daughter in bed with her 18-year-old beau, and she “put a stop to it immediately.”

Gray has previously remarked that she left her mother’s home 20 years ago, after she claimed that Workman had abused her too. However, Workman insists that Gray ran away at the age of 15 with a boy and didn’t want to return.

Like her older sister, Winter has stated that she was “slapped, hit [and] pushed” by her mother, and she has even claimed that she was denied food too.

However, Workman insists that every single one of these allegations is false. She told People magazine last year, “It’s all untrue, it’s all untrue. I have my doctor’s letter that my daughter’s never been abused. I have stylist’s letters that she’s never been abused.” She even told the Associated Press, “I’m the one being abused here. I’m doing this for all stage mothers. This could happen to any of them.”

Winter celebrated Christmas by posting a message to her Instagram page that was dedicated to her sister’s family. In it, there was a collage of photos of her sister, brother-in-law and nieces, and she also noted that she was “so lucky to be part of this amazing family.”

Meanwhile, Winter told Teen Vogue that she has now fully adjusted to her new life, explaining, “I’ve never had a curfew before. My life is definitely more normal—and that’ll help me grow up like I’m supposed to. Like, I always wanted to be a dancer, and now I’m taking dance classes. And I didn’t have many friends. It was all about work. Nowadays, my sister’s like, ‘You’re supposed to have friends. You’re supposed to go out on Friday and Saturday nights.'”

[Image via Jaguar PS/Shutterstock]