Julie Bowen recently appeared on the “90210MG” podcast and called out the press for pitting her and Sofia Vergara against one another during their tenure on “Modern Family.” Both actors were series regulars on the ABC sitcom for its entire 11-season run from 2009 to 2020. Bowen won two Emmys for supporting actress in a comedy series thanks to her performance as Claire Dunphy.
“I felt it on ‘Modern Family.’ The press kept trying to make me and Sofia sort of Betty and Veronica,” Bowen said about the invented rivalry the tabloids created between the “Modern Family” co-stars, adding the press “were determined to pit us against each other, like we hated each other.”
“There’s this scarcity mindset that there’s only one woman that can be happy at a time,” Bowen added. “I was like, ‘Oh no, I love Sofía. I love how different we are. She is funny and self-effacing and bawdy, and she loves life, and she loves dancing and eating cake and all these things.’”
As the press tried to tear the two actors apart, Bowen said she was actually learning “so much” from just being around Vergara on the “Modern Family” set on “what it is to be a really powerful, completely-herself woman.” She “found it to be really disappointing on the part of the press to have that narrative perpetuated,” not that Bowen herself ever “fed into that.”
“That’s so crazy; that’s just so ridiculous,” Bowen remembered saying to herself when she would see tabloid headlines touting a feud between herself and Vergara. Over the years, some press tried to perpetuate rumors that Bowen was jealous of Vergara’s financial success and acted icy towards Vergara on set as a result. None of it was ever true, as the two remain good friends to this day.
As part of a recent Variety cover story, Vergara shared that Bowen sent her a video of herself voting for the Colombian actress on this year’s Emmys ballot as Vergara is nominated for her role in “Griselda.” Many find it surprising that Vergara did not win at least one Emmy for playing Gloria on “Modern Family,” and she often uses that as joke fodder with Bowen.
“That’s what I tell Julie Bowen,” Vergara quipped. “I was nominated four times. Julie was also, and I always rub it in her face, ‘One of those is mine, but I’m just letting you have it in your house.’”
Listen to Bowen’s full interview on the “90210MG” podcast here.
From Variety US