Jesse Tyler Ferguson credits one of his favorite television roles with making people more accepting of his sexuality.
On his recent episode Dinner is on me podcast, the 48-year-old actor recalled how his life changed after joining the cast Modern family back in 2009. Speaking to host Nicole Byer, Ferguson said there was a moment where he saw a change in the way people viewed him.
“I went to Las Vegas, and I was in Las Vegas a few years ago, and I got a little bit of a gay kick,” he explained. “It was nothing violent, but it definitely felt like negative energy was coming at me from a couple who felt uncomfortable around me and my boyfriend at the time.”
“And then years later I left, after Modern familyand I remember that at first I felt that same negativity, but then they would see who it was, and they would recognize me as I am, I’m gay, but I’m also the gay guy on TV,” he continued.
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Jason Mendez/Getty
He went on to explain that people’s “initial instinct” was to judge him until they realized he was a popular star Modern familywhich seemed invigorating in a way.
“There was some weird superpower that I felt like was protecting me from this role that I was playing as well,” Ferguson said. “It kind of gave me this armor and I had that protection to be that character that people loved as well. I don’t know. It was really weird.”
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Noting that there are areas of the country especially right now where queer people feel unsafe, Ferguson said he still gets nervous when he’s sometimes recognized in public.
“For example, how are they going to respond to someone who looks like me and has my political views?” he asked.
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Justin Mikita (left) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (right).
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Ferguson is married to producer Justin Mikita, whom he met at the gym at the time Modern family it was just beginning. Mikita was a law student at the time, but continued to work on films, musicals and documentaries.
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The two joked Diversity 2020 about their first meeting in a West Hollywood dressing room, where Mikita complimented Ferguson on playing the first gay monogamous man he’d seen on TV. However, the relationship didn’t really start there.
“I said, ‘Full disclosure: I’m in a relationship, but I’d like to have a drink with you as a friend,'” Mikita recalled. “And he said, ‘I’ve got enough friends,’ which I loved.”
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They met by chance at the same gym 10 months later, and Mikita was already single by then. The current husbands started dating and got engaged two years later, and were officially married in July 2013.
“Justin and I walked down the aisle — actually two separate aisles — at the same time, with both of our parents walking us,” Ferguson recalled. “Then we met together at the altar, where Tony Kushner stood to marry us, which was crazy for me because he’s such an idol of mine.”
In July 2020, they welcomed their first child, Beckett Mercer, and later welcomed their second, Sullivan Louis, in November 2022.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education