Today's break from celebrities sniping at each other is brought to you by Bindi Irwin and Ariel Winter. Though the two 18-year-olds live on opposite sides of the world and have never met in person, they follow each other on Instagram and Twitter. That's how Irwin says the Modern Family star has been an inspiration to her.
"I love her so much because she has got to be one of the strongest women that I know," Irwin told Entertainment Tonight, citing Winter's body-positive posts and outspoken nature.
"I think that what's delightful is she does inspire so many young girls just to love who they are," Irwin said. "I think that we share that message so completely because we all get caught up in trying to be like each other — and that's kind of this ideal, and we all try to live up to this ideal — but really it's an individual thought of what beauty is. You have to love who you are and know that you are beautiful and own it."
Irwin, who works as a conservationist, sometime actress, and TV personality, won last fall's season of Dancing With the Stars. Having been in the public eye since she was born, the Crocodile Hunter's daughter can no doubt identify with some of the pressures Winter has felt growing up as a child star. Both celebrities are intent on being examples for their young audience.
Instead of concentrating on how they look in bikinis, Irwin suggested young men and women alike think about the higher purpose of their bodies.
"We all have to...be thankful for the bodies that we've been given because our bodies, they carry our souls!" she told ET. "So we have to love them and take care of them, and I love that Ariel Winter is just so involved with preaching that message and preaching to everybody that you have to...just love whatever body you've been given."