Working on the set of ABC’s Modern Family feels like it should have been a loving and hilarious experience, and it largely was, except when the tabloid media perpetuated fake feuds between the show’s stars. Whilst Modern Family was airing on ABC, stories were being published about a rivalry between Julie Bowen and Sofía Vergara, the two leading actresses. A yarn was spun by the press that the stars resented each other and were constantly trying to outperform one another during shooting. But Bowen says these claims were completely untrue.
During a recent appearance on the 90210MG podcast, Julie Bowen reflected on her supposed rivalry with co-star and long-time friend Sofía Vergara. The actor likened their reported rivalry to that of the titular frenemies of the classic comic Betty and Veronica. The actress believes it came from a sexist perspective that only one woman in a group can be happy at a time, and that the pair battled for attention. Bowen said:
“I felt it on Modern Family. The press kept trying to make me and Sofía sort of Betty and Veronica. [They] 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. 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.’
[I] found it to be really disappointing on the part of the press to have that narrative perpetuated.”
Modern Family
- Release Date
- September 23, 2009
- Seasons
- 11
- Studio
- ABC
During the conversation, Julie Bowen set the record straight once and for all. She declared that she never felt like rivals with Sofia Vergara. In fact, she felt the opposite as she learned a lot from working with her co-star across the show’s 11 seasons. Whilst shooting their many scenes together, Bowen said that Vergara taught her “what it is to be a really powerful, completely-herself woman.”
Julie Bowen Has Since Reunited With Her Modern Family Co-Stars… Sort Of
It’s barely been five years since Modern Family ended, coming to a close after 11 seasons, and fans are already demanding a reunion. While many of the show’s stars, including Sofía Vergara, Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy), and Ed O’Neil (Jay Pritchett) have all said they would love to return to the series, some of the actors already have.
In a series of commercials for the messaging app WhatsApp, Julie Bowen, Ty Burell (Phil Dunphy), Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker), and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett), all graced our screens once more as their beloved Modern Family characters. The commercials take place in the familiar Dunphy living room, where many of the mockumentary’s talking heads are shot, and tease the future of the Pritchett/Dunphy clan.
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Sadly, this is the closest Modern Family fans will get to a reunion for a while. Not only is it too soon for the stars to reunite on screen, but they are also all finding immense success in their own careers. Bowen’s supposed rival, Sofía Vergara, was recently nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the hit Netflix crime series Griselda. Off the back of that, Vergara is re-teaming with Griselda creator Eric Newman for a new project.
Modern Family
is streaming on Peacock.