Ariel Winter Praises Her Sister on Mother's Day: 'You Are the Most Amazing Mother I've Ever Known'

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“Mom” means a lot of things to a lot of different people. On Sunday, Ariel Winter celebrated Mother’s Day with a special Instagram tribute to her older sister, Shanelle Gray.

“#HappyMothersDay to this insanely beautiful woman inside and out, my sister, my best friend,” she captioned the photo. “I love you so much. You are the most amazing mother I've ever known and we are all so grateful for you!”

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The Modern Family actress, who is now 18, went on to thank her sis for “those years you raised me as your own.”

“So this day is your day, because you deserve the world!” she wrote. “I always feel so lucky that I have such an amazing role model. I hope one day I can be as wonderful as you I love you more than anything and am so grateful to have you. Thank you for being the most amazing person on this planet and for being my everything xoxo.”

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Ariel was emancipated from her birth mother after her sister was granted custody of her when she was a teen. In March she spoke with Ellen DeGeneres about the difficult decision.

"I don't really talk about the reason that I don't speak to my mother," she told Ellen. "It's kind of been publicized, but the reason I don't really share that is because I want to give her the same respect that she didn't give to me publicly."

Earlier this year, Ariel spoke with ET about the positive influence Shanelle has had on her life.

“She taught me how to love myself,” she said. “A lot of things that have influenced me have come from her so I have to give her the credit.”