Love isn't always straightforward: sometimes there are a few bumps along the road, even when two people mean the world to each other. Modern Family star Ariel Winter and her high school sweetheart Laurent Claude Gaudette have gone through a few breakups and makeups since they met in 2013, including a split this month. Take a look inside their surprisingly normal relationship — winter formals, prom drama, anniversaries, and all.
October 2013:
Ariel met Laurent in high school. "It was kind of like I saw him, and I was like, 'I would like to get to know him. And I did!'" she recalled to Us Weekly in 2015. Rather than sit around and wait for Laurent to notice her, she made the first move.
"I'm very outgoing, so I kind of initiated the, 'Hi, I'm here! It's nice to meet you,'" she said.
Laurent added, "I received a text from her. That's the first interaction I remember with her. Her first thing she sent to me was a giant, long paragraph."
April 2014:
Laurent describes their relationship as "love at first sight," and everyone swooned.
October 2014:
In honor of their first anniversary, Laurent wrote a beautiful Instagram caption remembering the day he asked Ariel to be his girlfriend. Spoiler alert: the story is like something straight out of a movie.
"I remember how I asked you to be my girlfriend behind those bleachers like it was yesterday," he wrote. (See?) "You have and always will be the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. I feel incomplete without you and when you're near, everything in the world is right again. You are my other half and best friend."
January 2015:
Ariel and Laurent rang in 2015 with a date at Disney World. So sweet.
February 2015:
On Ariel's 17 birthday, Laurent writes on Instagram, "I will never abandon you nor will I ever forget those memories."
The next week, they were each other's dates to winter formal, where they hammed it up in the photo booth.
July 2015:
The dictionary added a new entry for the word "goals," defining it as such:
OK, not really, but you know what I mean.
August 2015:
How do you know when a celebrity relationship is really serious? They make their red carpet debut. It's like officially announcing your relationship in front of a zillion photographers and reporters (and, oh, yeah, the whole Internet).
Ariel and Laurent first walked the red carpet together at a party hosted by the website Just Jared in August.
September 2015:
The next month, they had this unforgettable Old Hollywood red carpet moment at the Emmys. They. Are. So. Beautiful. Together!
Laurent was there to support Ariel when Modern Family was up for the Outstanding Comedy Series award.
October 2015:
The happy couple celebrated two years of dating. Ariel wrote a long, heartfelt note that expressed her feelings for Laurent.
The whole thing is worth checking out below, but the smushiest section reads as such: "When we first met two years ago, I felt this insane, unexplainable connection with you and I knew from that day one that you were the one I wanted to be with. Our first argument was the day I think I figured out just how in love I was with you, because even though we seemed to absolutely not get along, opposites still attracted. From that day forward, we've had our trials and tribulations, but a day has never gone by where I haven't been madly in love with you. You are everything to me; my love, my other half, the one person who can always challenge me, and occasionally win, and the one that I'm always grateful for."
December 2015:
Ariel and Laurent called it quits after more than two years of dating. If she was heartbroken, she didn't exactly let on. Instead, she confirmed the news with a jokey "Single Ladies" meme.
A few hours later, Ariel posted an inspiring AF Instagram about moving forward in a healthy way. "Love doesn't die, it simply evolves," she wrote. "We grow up, we realize what we truly want. I'm excited for this new chapter in my love life — love is all around... Family, friends, pizza... The old and the new."
January 2016:
After they were spotted running errands together, rumors began flying that they were back together.
A few hours later, Ariel posted a Boomerang video on Instagram where they got thiiiiis close to kissing and drove fans crazy wondering exactly what was going down between them. Watch their lips get inches from each other's and basically die of anticipation:
Did we mention that this all went down on Ariel's actual 18th birthday? Like, they hung out on her birthday... and that's not something you do with just any old person.
If Ariel and Laurent were officially back together, they didn't bother clueing in fans. Instead, they just posed for adoooorbs selfies like these.
February 2016:
At Ariel's Moroccan-themed 18th birthday bash, she and Laurent were basically just two giant heart-eye emojis. I mean, look:
He also called her "perfect," because he's nothing if not accurate. So true, Laurent, so true.
March 2016:
While attending a DJ night hosted by Vanity Fair, L'Oreal Paris, and Hailee Steinfeld, Ariel chatted with reporters on the red carpet about her relationship with Laurent.
"We love each other, so we are obviously meant to be together," she told People, explaining that their connection has grown over time. "When I first came to this school and met him, I immediately thought there was something special about him... I got to know him and, almost three years later, we're here."
Laurent was just a few feet away during Ariel's interview. Later, she posted a #goals collage of them together on the red carpet and tagged "#mcm." Awww.
April 2016:
When Ariel got three new tattoos, fans wondered if the super-romantic quote on her right hip was a tribute to Laurent.
The tattoo reads "love risks everything and asks for nothing" in Greek.
May 2016:
Ariel attended prom solo (looking ~CRAZY~ gorgeous in a glam lace gown).
She sparked breakup rumors when she posted a second Instagram flipping off the camera with a Beyoncé lyric about a no-good guy in the caption. "Boy bye," she wrote.
June 2016:
Rumors continued circulating that
Ariel and Laurent had split, especially after Us
Weekly reported that they no longer follow each other on social media.
Laurent was also absent from Ariel's graduation party, which is especially
odd, considering they attended the same high school.
Meanwhile, Laurent looked pretty lonely on Instagram. His caption was a plea... possibly meant for Ariel: "I wanna hear from you," he wrote.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BGK7NSUuyu-/?taken-by=laurent_claude_gaudette&hl=en[/instagram]
After weeks of speculation, Ariel officially confirmed her single status with a little help from Kim Kardashian.
Hannah Orenstein is the author of several novels, including Meant to Be Mine (out June 7, 2022), Head Over Heels, Love at First Like, and Playing with Matches. She's also the Deputy Editor of Dating at Elite Daily. She lives in Brooklyn.
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