People News

Ariel Winter's mother to sue publicist

Dec 8, 2012, 23:37 GMT

Ariel Winter

Ariel Winter's mother has threatened to sue a Hollywood publicist over an alleged plot to create a naked picture scandal.

The 'Modern Family' star's mother Chrisoula 'Chrystal' Workman - who is currently not the 14-year-old actress's legal guardian after she was removed for her care more than two months ago amid accusations of abuse - claims public relations expert Jonathan Hay fabricated a story about her trying to leak naked pictures of her eldest daughter Shanelle Workman, 34, who was awarded temporary custody of Ariel.

According to gossip website TMZ.com, Chrisoula has sent a cease and desist letter to the publicist despite admitting she sent him scantily clad pictures of Shanelle.

The letter reportedly warns Jonathan to stop 'making false and defamatory statements' because, 'Ms. Workman never represented to Mr. Hay that nude pictures existed of her daughter Shanelle.'

However, the letter later admits that Chrisoula admits sending him two revealing pictures of Shanelle, but she says she found them on the Internet and they were not private because they were taken at a cast party for 'One Life To Live' - which Shanelle once appeared in - by a professional photographer.

Jonathan previously claimed he was disgusted when he was approached by Chrisoula to try to publicly smear her older daughter's reputation so she could attempt to win back custody of Ariel.

He said: 'Crystal Workman, the mother of Ariel Winter, wanted me to represent her and leak nude photos in the media of her other daughter Shanelle Workman.

'In all my years of being a publicist, I have never seen anyone stoop as low as wanting to sell out and destroy the reputation of her own daughter. Crystal said she wanted the public to see Shanelle for who she really was and smear her daughter in attempts to try and get custody back of Ariel.'