Julie Bowen may have won two Emmys for her portrayal of family matriarch Claire Dunphy on Modern familybut behind the scenes, Bowen was dealing with a serious case of impostor syndrome.
While candidly reminiscing about her time on the show, which aired on ABC for 11 seasons from 2009 to 2020, Bowen, 54, opened up about the “enormous pressure” she was dealing with in her personal life.
“I had babies and I was nursing and I was going to work at 5 in the morning. I had three kids in diapers and, you know, you’re going to go to work every day going, ‘Oh my God.’ And you still have to be nice and professional, and you have to look good, and you don’t sleep at all,” she said on the Aug. 14 episode of Jennie Garth’s I choose myself podcast.
Julie Bowen at an event on September 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Neilson Barnard/Getty Julie Bowen recalls being a ‘fight against’ Sofia Vergara during Modern family Dani: ‘I’ve never been in it’
Despite the circumstances, the actress described the set as a “loving atmosphere” and something she was “happy” to be a part of.
“I felt like, you know, getting up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work can be painful, and being with my kids is horrible, and I loved being there so much and I felt so validated, and it felt so good,” she continued. .
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“I spent the first year or a year and a half in Modern family being terrified because everyone there was so funny and so good at what they do. I said, ‘I don’t belong here.’ I mean, how did you feel doing the sitcom?” Bowen continued, asking Garth. “All of a sudden, you were on set, you were in front of a live audience, you had to laugh.”
In the series, Bowen, a mother of three in real life, was the mother of children Haley Dunphy (Sarah Hyland), Alex Dunphy (Ariel Winter) and Luke Dunphy (Nolan Gould).
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“Modern Family” stars Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy and Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy.
Robert Ashcroft via Getty
Talking about how the younger cast members grew up in the spotlight, she applauded them for having “so much more composure about who they were in the world.”
“I was in awe of their composure … they were living it out loud and on social media and getting hate on social media,” she said. “And I said, ‘Maybe you just shouldn’t be on Twitter or Instagram and maybe you shouldn’t be doing those things.’ And they said, ‘We’re fine.'”
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“Modern Family” cast photo.
Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment via Getty
While talking about how she coped with being in the public eye, she also talked about being often pitted against her co-star, Sofia Vergara.
“It’s a scarcity mindset that only one woman can be happy at a time,” she said. “And I said, ‘Oh, no. I love Sofia, and I love how different we are. And I love—she’s funny and self-deprecating and sassy, and she loves life, and she loves to dance and eat cake and all that stuff.'”
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Modern family can be streamed on Hulu.
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