Modern Family

Ariel Winter's long battle to be free from her mother is finally over -- she's been emancipated.

The 17-year-old "Modern Family" star has been estranged from her mother, Chrystal Workman since 2012 ... and was removed from the home after allegations of abuse.

Winter was overjoyed at the news, writing, "I am now officially emancipated!!! I'm really lucky I have an amazing support system and lovely people in my life who have given me the support and guidance to have been given this wonderful opportunity."

Winter also thanked her sister, Shanelle Gray ... with whom she's been living. Ariel remained close with her father throughout the ordeal ... and earlier this month posted a photo with him before heading off to her prom.

Julie Bowen knows the old saying -- when life hands you a deadly earthquake ... make lemonade -- to raise money for the victims of that deadly earthquake.

The "Modern Family" star and her kids joined the Nepal relief effort on Thursday with double barrels of lemon"aid" -- hawking the refreshments to hikers in L.A.'s Fryman Canyon. Even when her kids bailed for a few hours ... Julie held down the fort, solo.

"Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet's got moves you've never seen ... and he unleashed them all while blowing the roof off a West Hollywood gay bar.

Stonestreet -- who refers to himself as "openly straight" -- channeled his inner Cameron Tucker last weekend at Flaming Saddles. And man ... Eric was feeling like a woman while singing and dancing to Shania Twain. It's pretty awesome.

"Modern Family" star Ty Burrell has proof that a $170k-a-week job can have drawbacks ... with the Oregon Ducks superfan saying he might have to miss the National Championship -- if work calls.

As we previously reported, Burrell is a hardcore Ducks supporter and personal friends with the head coach -- and publicly declared he'd be at the game in Texas to cheer on UO against Ohio St.

There's just one thing that can stand in his way ... "Modern Family" ... and when we got Burrell in L.A. on Monday, he admitted if push comes to shove ... it's a fight he knows he can't win.

"Modern Family" star Ty Burrell isn't just a HUUGE Oregon fan -- he's also personal friends with UO head coach Mark Helfrich ... and the two bro'd out moments after the Ducks won the Rose Bowl.

TMZ Sports has the footage showing Ty congratulating Mark while the victory fireworks were still going off in the background ... with Ty promising to head to Texas next week to support the team in the National Championship game.

Ariel Winter pulls in way more money than your average 16-year-old girl, but she eats just like a normal teenager.

Winter's guardianship requires her sister to file a list of Ariel's expenses.

In the docs, we get a glimpse into Winter's 2013 eating habits ... which are shockingly typical.

-- 8 trips to In-N-Out
-- 6 trips to Subway
-- 17 trips to Starbucks and Coffee Bean
-- 12 orders from GrubHub (food deliver website)

But then, as a reminder that she's actually not that average, Ariel lists her shopping sprees, which include:

-- $8,938 at Chanel
-- $1,253 in one visit to Victoria's Secret
-- $1,570 at Christian Louboutin

It's not like she can't afford it -- the docs say Winter made about $1.5 million in the last 18 months.

"Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland -- fearing an attack from an ex-BF -- just got some protection from a judge ... who ordered the ex to steer clear of her and her pet Maltipoo -- or go to jail.

TMZ broke the story ... Hyland went to court seeking protection from Matthew Prokop ... claiming he brutalized her physically and verbally during the past 4 years ... and allegedly threatened to make her dog disappear.

A judge issued a permanent restraining order, Monday in court ... giving Hyland all of the protections she requested. According to the order, Prokop must:

-stay 100 yards away from Hyland and her house
-not go near her job or workplace
-not own or possess a gun or ammunition
-stay 100 yards away from Hyland's dog, Barkley Bixby
-not attack, threaten or harm the dog in any way

The judge's order is in force for 3 years.

"Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland just got a temporary restraining order against her ex-BF -- claiming the guy choked her, pushed her and threatened her life ... and her TV mom witnessed some of the abuse.

TMZ has obtained court docs filed by Hyland -- who plays Haley Dunphy -- in which she claims her ex Matthew Prokop terrorized her both verbally and physically during the last 4 years of their relationship.

According to the docs, Prokop -- an actor who once appeared on "Modern Family" -- pinned Hyland against a car during an argument about her outfit back in May and unleashed hell ... calling her "c**t, c**t, c**t" and choking her.

Hyland says in the docs, "His grip was so tight that I could not breathe or speak. I was scared and in fear for my life."

Sarah says she suffered injuries to her voice -- and had a "very sore throat following this event."

In the docs, Hyland says she knew she was in an abusive relationship -- and asked her TV mom Julie Bowen to come to her house to help "peacefully end the relationship."

Hyland says she had purchased a plane ticket to send Matthew back to his home in Texas -- but when Matthew arrived to the home and saw Julie (along with others), he freaked out ... "ran outside into the backyard and began screaming."

Hyland says Prokop threw a lighter at her -- and that's when Julie stepped in and told Sarah to get out of the house because she wasn't safe around Prokop.

In the docs, Hyland says Prokop also threatened to set one of her homes on fire -- and threatened that she would never see her dog again.

After Hyland broke up with Prokop, she claims he "relentlessly bombarded me with vile, threatening and emotionally disturbing texts and voice mails including his own suicide threats."

Hyland says Prokop entered a rehab facility in August -- but he got out on Sept. 21st ... and claims the director of the facility contacted her and told her it would be in her best interest to get a restraining order against him due to his mental state and attitude against her.

Hyland took his advice -- and an L.A. judge granted a temporary restraining order ... requiring Prokop to stay at least 100 yards away from Sarah and her dog at all times.

We reached out to Prokop and his people for comment -- so far no word back.

Sofia Vergara and her significantly younger new man Joe Manganiello are officially out of the cage.

The 37-year-old "True Blood" star was out and about this weekend in Studio City showing off his prize catch ... five years his senior.

This is nothing new for Sofia, who's just coming off a similar situation with boy toy Nick Loeb ... they were together for almost 4 years, got engaged and split up last May.

We're not worried about Joe, of course ... if anyone can keep a cougar at bay, it's wolf man.

Happy hunting, Joe.

The Kiss vs. Eric Stonetreet (and his mother) beef is over ... so says Paul Stanley, who has even extended an invite to a Kiss concert as a show of friendship.

The social media battle between the "Modern Family" star and the makeup-clad rockers began when Stonestreet felt Stanley and Gene Simmons were rude to his mother on a flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City. Stanley and Simmons said the whole thing was a misunderstanding and Stonestreet calmed down.

This morning at LAX, Stanley reiterated that point and had nothing but nice things to say about Stonestreet and his mother ... but carefully danced around saying he was sorry about any of it.

"Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet called out Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley for being rude to his mother on a flight yesterday, but Stanley claims the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Stonestreet ripped the rockers on Instagram, claiming Simmons tried to "bully" his mom out of her seat and then mocked her by asking for her autograph -- and even threw in an old lady jab, calling her ... "Aunt Bee."

But Simmons fired back ... claiming the whole thing was made up, and he "would never be mean, especially to mothers."

Stanley also tweeted that the whole mess was just a "misunderstanding of joking."

Stonestreet accepted the sort-of-apology with a white flag tweet, "Thank u for that. She did tell me you let her go first. I will tape my glow in the dark KISS posters back together now."

"Modern Family" star Ariel Winter broke down in tears in court just moments ago ... after her mom played a schmaltzy home video of Ariel's childhood memories.

Chrystal Workman played the video for the courtroom as a weird last ditch effort to get her daughter to change her mind about living with her older sister Shanelle ... instead of with her mom.

Chrystal told the court she would relinquish her bid to reclaim her parental rights over Ariel -- after a judge stripped her of custody in 2012 -- if Ariel agreed to watch the video ... which she did.

The home video contained piano instrumentals and pictures from Ariel's childhood -- as a baby, from school, of the whole family together, and more.

Ariel, Shanelle, Chrystal, and several other members of the Workman family were in tears as the video played -- but Ariel didn't change her mind ... and the judge signed off on Shanelle's permanent guardianship.

"Modern Family" creator Steve Levitan is being dragged into Ariel Winter's gnarly custody battle ... and it's all because Steve allegedly wrote a letter to authorities saying she should be free -- ON "MODERN FAMILY" LETTERHEAD!

Ariel's mom Chrystal Workman filed court docs claiming Levitan recently wrote an emancipation letter to dependency court on her daughter's behalf -- and claims he had the nerve to write it on the show's stationery.

Workman says she wants to grill him in court for sticking his nose in family business.

Unlike most 16-year-olds -- who scrape together money from their part time job to go halfsies with their parents on a used Ford Taurus -- "Modern Family" star Ariel Winter just picked up a brand new Mercedes ... and paid for it in full.

Winter hit up her local Mercedes dealer recently and scored a fully loaded C350, blacked out with the AMG package. We're told Ariel and her sister went in with the idea of getting something nice, but also responsible and safe.

Our sources tells us Winter's dad -- who only recently began siding with Ariel and her sister in their battle against Ariel's mom -- was there to help her sign the papers. Once the deal was closed, Ariel wired the full payment ... just north of $50,000. APR financing is for suckers!

And get this ... the guy in the photo, who sold Ariel the car, is former soap star/current car salesman Matt Borlenghi. The funny part is ... Ariel's mom sued him for defamation in 2012.

Probably not a coincidence.

"Modern Family" star Ariel Winter says she will never have a relationship again with her mom and her older brother ... this according to one of her text messages.

The text -- obtained by TMZ -- was filed in Ariel's guardianship case. She was texting her older brother Jimmy who has sided with their mother in the battle over Ariel.

Ariel, who is now under the guardianship of her sister, wrote, "How dare you say you miss me ... if you really wanted to see anyone and cared, you'd do a 180."

And then she goes in for the kill: "I'm sorry, what we've been through can't be fixed."

Ariel's mom filed the document, trying to prove Ariel suffers from PAS -- Parental Alienation Syndrome -- and their family is being destroyed as a result of the guardianship.

Julie Bowen's beauty is a modern miracle!

Here's the then 26-year-old babe in the golf comedy "Happy Gilmore" back in 1996 (left) -- and 18 years later, the 43-year-old "Modern Family" mom earlier in the year in Sydney, Australia (right).