Modern Family star Ariel Winter stuns fans with bold new look months after losing 13kg

Ariel Winter has stunned fans with a jaw-dropping new look.

The Modern Family star has undergone a major transformation — and according to her 3.9 million followers, she's practically unrecognisable.

The 21-year-old debuted a flame red mane over the weekend after sharing two photos to her Instagram.

She captioned the snaps "Part of yourrrrrr worrrrrld", appearing to reference The Little Mermaid, a mystical sea creature of the same name who had a famous long mop of bright red hair.

But within moments of Ariel — who usually has dark chocolate brown hair — sharing the snaps, fans were declaring their confusion.

"Wait I'm so confused. Is this you?" one wrote.

"Oh my gosh is this real?" another said.

"Who is this?" someone else said.

After finally getting their heads around Ariel's new look, many declared they "loved it" — even if they struggled to recognise her at first.

"Wow, she looks so different," one person wrote.

"She looks so good with this colour but completely unrecognisable," one person declared.

Many even commented on her likeness to model and actress Bella Thorne.

As well as rocking long wavy copper tresses, Ariel also flaunted a slimmer appearance while wearing a black top with a plunging cut out and a pair of skinny jeans.

Last month, the star opened up about her weight loss, citing her antidepressant medication as the cause.

"For years I had been on antidepressants that caused me to gain weight that I couldn't lose no matter what I did," she wrote on an Instagram Q&A session.

"It was always frustrating for me because I wanted to be able to get fit and feel like the work I was doing was paying off, but it never felt that way. I had accepted it and moved on."

But after revealing she was "sick of feeling stuck" on her medication, she decided to look for alternatives.

"I started the process again and was able to find a great combination of medication that works for me," she continued in her post. "The change in medication instantly made me drop all of the weight I couldn't lose before by just giving me back a metabolism. That was very unexpected."

Ariel added although she felt better mentally, she still wanted to gain a few more kilos of muscle and get healthier — and ended her lengthy post by saying, "Also want my butt back".

The young actress first addressed her dramatic weight loss in January, clapping back at an internet troll who accused her of taking "coke/meth" to drop 13kg.

Despite the criticism, Ariel said she's "doing pretty good" on her journey, and her latest beauty makeover is more proof of that.

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