'Modern Family' Star Julie Bowen's Twin Sons Blew Us Away

Sep 14, 2022 by apost team

Actress Julie Bowen is perhaps best known for her role as Claire Dunphy in the series "Modern Family." As one of the mother characters, audience members saw her constantly chasing and berating her gang of fictional children — daughters Haley and Alex as well as son Luke. Off-screen, Bowen has a similarly shaped family with her ex-husband, real estate investor Scott Phillips. Together, the couple welcomed Oliver in 2007 and twins, John and Gustav, in 2009.

Bowen has commented on what it's like raising sons, as she said: “On TV shows, people talk to each other ... When you have three boys, it’s more like grunting. And you identify their mood kind of by their smell. It’s like living with wild animals.”

However, despite the apparent chaos and odd communication breakdown, the actress seems blissfully happy in motherhood. She told reporters: “It’s hairy, it’s smelly and I love them ... They own me.”

While parenthood seems to be going swimmingly, Bowen's marriage ended in 2018 when she filed for divorce that February. She maintains that perhaps for the sake of their children, the couple is “still very close.” In an interview with TODAY, she credited her ex-husband with supporting her through the COVID-19 lockdown. She repeated the advice he had given her: “(He) told me he’d read somewhere that you spend 75% of all the time you’ll ever spend with your kids before they are 16. And somehow that made me so sad. Every time I think, ‘Oh my God this pandemic has (got) to end, these kids have to go back to school!’"

She continued: "I think to myself, ‘But I’m getting this extra time with them ... So that has kept me sane to a large degree.” She acknowledged that the pandemic was obviously "incredibly challenging" for everyone. Speaking on the struggle of overseeing her three sons' online curriculums during the lockdown, Bowen admitted:

“At first it was so over­whelming — I was terrified ... But now that I’ve relaxed into it, I’ll tell you: The real bummer is having to fix the extra meal. Lunch used to be your one meal off. I’m like, ‘Why can’t you have a bag of Skinny Pop like mom?’”

While Bowen has found balance at home post-divorce and post-pandemic, she still seems to be emerging from under the shadow of "Modern Family." While she has starred in films, like "Hubie Halloween," "Mixtape" and "The Fallout," Bowen is still remembered as a Dunphy. She admitted that the role and its demands even had an impact on her family. She told PEOPLE:

"I think for a long time, my kids resented 'Modern Family' and didn’t even know why. 'Modern Family' was a thing that people said before they took their mom away ... When you’re young and hungry and just trying to get work, you take any role you can get and you’re just so happy about it. Now I get to have options, which feels great. But my kids are my quality control, because I’ll ask, 'Is it far away? How long?' Those are always the things that knock me out of the running (for a role)."

apost.com

She continued, touching on how her priorities have shifted since:

"For 11 years on the show, I loved the opportunity to work in L.A., work with wildly talented people, and to get to fall down and be goofy and silly. But I also got to come home at night and see my kids, and not feel like I had to give up one or the other, which I think was incredibly fortunate. I'm incredibly fortunate to have had that run at that time in my life."

This ability to freely choose which opportunities to pursue has not always been possible for Bowen, especially when she was a younger actress breaking into Hollywood. Though she starred in "Happy Gilmore" and even landed a five-episode arc on the series "Lost," Bowen has always remembered her roots in navigating stardom. She recalled:

"The first time I booked a guest spot on a TV show, I was living in this miserable apartment in New York City, waiting tables until three in the morning and rollerblading home with my tips in my sock." 

She then told a story of receiving car service thanks to her actor's union, flying to film a guest spot, then having to immediately return to the restaurant, "because (her) shift was starting." While she's become successful in the decades since Bowen remains aware of her beginnings. "In my head, I’m still getting out of a town car and putting my apron on." Thankfully, she has her boys to pull those apron strings and bring her back to her bountiful present. 

Isn't Julie Bowen's story inspiring? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family, and any "Modern Family" fans!