Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Gets Real About How ‘Disappointing’ It Was When The Press Tried To Pit Her And Sofia Vergara Against Each Other

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Even though it’s been off the air since 2020, Modern Family remains one of the best sitcoms of all time, particularly for how relatable it was to watch the various dynamics in one family play out from episode to episode. When Julie Bowen recently reflected on her time on the ABC series, she recalled press often pitting her against co-star Sofia Vergara and how far it was from “real life.”

When Bowen was recently a guest on the I Choose Me With Jennie Garth podcast, the two actresses spoke about their experiences with the media pitting women against each other. Here’s how the Modern Family actress responded:

I felt it on Modern Family. The press kept trying to make me and Sofia, sort of Betty and Veronica. And I know they did that with you and Shannen [Doherty]. I mean, I remember it. I remember it so clearly. … I remember seeing you guys on some morning show, where you were taking some correspondent thrift shopping or something. … And I was like, ‘Oh, they’re friends!’ We’re not getting real life in the press.

Bowen also recalled going grocery shopping sometimes and seeing her face next to Sofia Vergara’s in a magazine at the checkout line and thinking how “crazy” it was that they were being depicted as enemies. As she continued:

They were just determined to pit us against each other, like we hated each other. It's this scarcity mindset that only one woman can be happy at a time. And I was like, 'Oh, no. I love Sofía, and I love how different we are. And I love – she is funny and self-effacing and bawdy, and she loves life, and she loves dancing and eating cake and all these things.' … And I learned so much from being around her about what it means to be a really powerful, completely in-herself woman.

The narrative around Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara may have spread easily among those who didn't know the actresses personally since they often went up against each other for Emmys and other awards for Modern Family. The co-stars were both up for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series four times, two of which Bowen won over Vergara. As Bowen spoke to on the podcast, the co-stars got along well on set, despite their differences, and she feels they were pitted against one another due to a popular idea that two women cannot be successful on a project at once. She also said this:

I found that to be really disappointing on the part of the press, but I just never fed into that. That's a scarcity mindset, and there's no such thing as, like, ‘Oh, if one woman's doing well, that means others have to step back.’ I can't support that.

Vergara is less decorated than Bowen when it comes to Emmys, but that has a lot more to do with the voting body than the two women. Plus, Vergara has earned a slot on the list of 76th Emmy nominees as Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie for Griselda, which in turn allowed her to make history as the first-ever Latina to receive a nod in that category.

Emmys and tabloids aside, the Modern Family cast seems to be a family in real life, between reuniting together under their own accord and Bowen working in a funny Taylor Swift joke when asked about Vergara’s split from Joe Manganiello. It’s hard to imagine any of the Modern Family cast not being part of the show, which makes the fact that Bowen almost passed on the series even wilder.

You can watch Modern Family right now with a Peacock subscription and get ready for her upcoming series, Hysteria!, which premieres on Peacock on October 18.