{"id":8758,"date":"2011-08-26T17:17:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T17:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/?p=8758"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:01:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:01:51","slug":"modern-family-star-julie-bowen-mocked-by-costar-for-being-fat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/modern-family-star-julie-bowen-mocked-by-costar-for-being-fat\/","title":{"rendered":"“Modern Family” Star Julie Bowen Mocked by Costar for Being “Fat”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Julie Bowen photo by CapitalM on Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Julie Bowen has always played the showbiz game her way \u2013 and now, as a star of the ABC\u2019s megahit Modern Family, she\u2019s enjoying the rewards of never giving up. Julie talked to\u00a0More\u00a0<\/a><\/em>for the September cover story. The issue hits newsstands this week. Highlights include:<\/p>\n

On the Glorifying Motherhood:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cAt the time I only had one kid, but with two on the way, I was always hearing talk about golden mystical baby things and precious time. And I was like, \u2018Who the f*** are you talking to?!\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0This isn\u2019t golden and mystical. If you could see me naked, you would weep. I weep on a regular basis<\/strong>.\u00a0Children are like crazy, drunken small people in your house<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being called fat at her first professional gig, the ABC daytime series\u00a0Loving<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cBetween scenes, [a costar] would say, \u2018Can you believe how fat you are?\u2019 \u201d Bowen recalls. Rather than allowing her confidence to be sapped, she sought support from the segment of the showbiz community that forever bears silent witness to the talent\u2019s bad behavior.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI thought, go talk to the crew, and you\u2019ll find out that they hate her, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

On not wanting twins and not having in vitro:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI was terrified. I did not want twins as a second go-around. I should have been much more cautious. I should have had . . . half sex?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0On top of her emotional reaction, she recalls endlessly fielding questions from those who assumed the twins had resulted from in vitro fertilization. \u00a0\u201cEverybody asked me, \u2018How many did you put in?\u2019 and I\u2019d be like, \u2018Just one penis<\/strong>. Thanks!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

She misjudged her own Funny Breasts on TV:\u00a0<\/strong>Once, on\u00a0Lopez Tonight<\/em>, Bowen showed a snapshot of herself double-nursing the twins, provoking Internet uproar.\u00a0\u201cI thought it was funny,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0a dismayed Bowen protests.\u00a0\u201cYou didn\u2019t see nipples, just this blurry picture of two heads stuck to my boobs. I was like, \u2018Oh my God.\u2019 You couldn\u2019t get me out of the house for about a month after that. I felt so embarrassed and misunderstood.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost having a baby on the set of Boston Legal:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI was pretending to be in labor, grunting and groaning. They\u2019re like, \u2018Cut!\u2019 and my water breaks, and I\u2019m standing in a puddle,\u201d she remembers. \u00a0A teamster was assigned to rush her to the hospital, but Bowen insisted that they first swing by her house so she could wash her face and change into street clothes. Her reasoning: She was afraid the admitting staff \u201cwould think I was Froot Loops, showing up in my own hospital gown with full hair and makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Phil Duffy:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThis is a man who lives in Utah. In this industry, most people are committed to Hollywood or Beverly Hills or Malibu. This is a man who is committed to Utah. He is also the scariest person I\u2019ve ever worked with because he\u2019s so good that you don\u2019t know what is going to come out next.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Julie Bowen photo by Rubenstein on Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

On her role as Claire Dunphy:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI really related to this woman. It was like, \u2018You\u2019ve just got to get it done.\u2019 It doesn\u2019t mean she doesn\u2019t love her family. She wasn\u2019t getting condemned [by the script] as a bad mother. This was the lead mom, and she wasn\u2019t romanticizing parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her family\u2019s \u201cModern Family\u201d drinking game:\u00a0<\/strong>For the pilot, producers had to hide Julie\u2019s pregnancy with folding laundry, popping her head up around a doorway, etc. \u201cEvery time you realize that Julie was doing something to hide her pregnancy, you had to drink,\u201d recalls Julie\u2019s older sister Molly.<\/p>\n

She’s NOT part of Hollywood\u2019s in-crowd:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cHollywood is nothing but every prom queen and cute girl in America,\u201d says Bowen. \u201cPeople like to pigeonhole blondes as the cute girl next door. I was never good at that. I was always better once they let me be a bit acerbic or have just a touch of a dark side.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her real last name:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI had this idea that I would probably fail and that that would be Julie Bowen\u2019s problem and I\u2019d just bury her and go back to being Julie Luetkemeyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

On romantic chemistry with Adam Sandler while filming\u00a0Happy Gilmore<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>One would think it would be a great\u00a0challenge to generate some romantic sparkle with Adam Sandler\u2019s character, a maniac golfer with a horny preadolescent\u2019s view of the opposite sex. But Bowen wasn\u2019t stressed. \u201cFor me to manufacture sexual chemistry? No big deal<\/strong>,\u201d she says, pointing out that she could meet a costar, such as Matthew Fox or Paul Rudd, and within minutes be kissing him passionately on camera.<\/p>\n

Bowen\u2019s heart condition: \u00a0<\/strong>Bowen received a diagnosis of hypervagotonia (which causes her heart to beat too slowly) and was outfitted with a pacemaker. When the doctors broke the news, she remembers having \u201ca big crying fit\u201d about needing a device that\u2019s \u201cfor old people.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Since then, she\u2019s come to realize how lucky she is that a serious medical problem could be remedied in a way she considers \u201cno big deal\u201d: Every six months, she goes for a checkup; every seven years, she has surgery to replace the heartbeat-regulating part of the apparatus. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of a pain. It\u2019s a full operation,\u201d she says. \u201cThey give you a new pacemaker but [not the wires that carry the electrical signal] so they don\u2019t have to actually go into your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

She’s nanny-free on the weekends:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI have three kids. I should know how to take care of them,\u201d she says. Nonetheless, TGIF soon lost its shimmer. \u201cWe\u2019d be like, \u2018Here comes Saturday. It\u2019s going to be a long-ass weekend.\u2019 All we did was poop patrol for 48 hours. When Monday would come, we\u2019d be like, \u2018Thank God.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Getting her big break:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI always thought I was lucky to work at all. I\u2019m keenly aware of the odds of succeeding in our business\u2026Honestly, I feel like a lot of times, the only really bad choice you can make is one that closes doors. I have good relationships with the people in my life, both professionally and personally. If I wanted to chuck it all tomorrow and move to Michigan and live on a farm, I could do that\u2014and I don\u2019t think anybody would be mad at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowen\u2019s proud moment:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m constantly shocked that I am successfully taking care of this family and that I\u2019m capable of putting their needs in front of mine,\u201d Bowen says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I could have done it in my twenties.\u201d Because she is very satisfied with her life, she wonders why others suggest she should push for more. \u201cWhy is \u2018good\u2019 the enemy?\u201d she asks. \u201cWhy push it past good?\u201d<\/p>\n

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