The beloved sitcom “Modern Family” premiered in 2009 and aired for 11 seasons, wrapping up in 2020. The show won over audiences and critics alike with its sharp humor, unique cast of characters, and its depiction of truly modern and unconventional families, garnering 22 Primetime Emmy wins during its run.

Advertisement

Fans fell in love with the show’s super talented and hilarious cast and rooted for them in their respective relationships. In real life, many of the actors in the series had personal lives that mirrored those of their characters, while others lived lives that were in contrast to the roles they played.

From Ed O’Neill, who is a married man with children, to Sofía Vergara and Julie Bowen whose real-life relationships were not as harmonious as the ones they had on the show, to Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter who are all grown up and in serious relationships of their own, the cast members of “Modern Family” each have interesting personal lives. Read on to learn more about the “Modern Family” cast’s real-life partners.

Advertisement

On “Modern Family,” Ed O’Neill played Jay Pritchett, the patriarch of a large blended family whose grouchy demeanor provided an excellent foil to his vivacious second wife, Gloria, played by Sofía Vergara. In real life, O’Neill is also a family man. He has been married to his wife, Catherine Rusoff since 1986 and the couple share two daughters together.

Advertisement

Fans of O’Neill may also recognize him as from “Married … with Children,” the sitcom he starred on for 11 seasons beginning in 1987. During that show’s run, Rusoff, an actor in her own right, appeared in several episodes between 1988 and 1991 playing a character named Mona Squab. Rusoff also made appearances in various other popular TV series in the ’80s and ’90s such as “Highway to Heaven,” “Midnight Caller,” and “The New Adam-12,” but she seems to have stepped away from acting after that.

O’Neill and Rusoff eventually welcomed two daughters, Sophia and Claire, despite O’Neill’s initial apprehension about having children. “At the beginning, I sort of reluctantly went along with it,” the actor shared with The New York Post, adding that having kids was his wife’s idea. “Then when we had the first one, I was like ‘Oh, my God, I’m in love.'” O’Neill has remained a devoted a dad over the years, praising his daughters for the role they play in his life. “They are the best thing that has ever happened to me,” he said.

Advertisement

Sofía Vergara played Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on “Modern Family,” the much-younger wife of Jay Pritchett, stepmother of Claire and Mitchell, and mother of Manny and Joe. In real life, Vergara is a mom as well to her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, who she welcomed in 1991 with her first husband and childhood sweetheart Joe Gonzalez. After their split, Vergara focused on her career and motherhood, and years later became engaged to Nick Loeb. The couple never made it down the aisle, but the actor found love again with “Magic Mike” star Joe Manganiello, whom she married in 2015.

Advertisement

Vergara and Manganiello seemed like the perfect pair, but their union sadly wasn’t built to last, as they ended up divorcing in 2023. The split seemed amicable enough, as the couple issued a joint statement which read in part, “As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives” (via Page Six).

After her second divorce, Vergara was briefly linked to orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman, but in 2024 she seemed to be rolling solo again as she spoke to Us Weekly about dating in New York City. “I was talking yesterday about it because now I’m single … kind of single,” she said.

Ty Burrell played Phil Dunphy on “Modern Family,” the husband of Claire Dunphy and father of three kids, Alex, Haley, and Luke. Ty is no stranger to family life as he is a husband and father offscreen as well. Ty met his wife, Holly Burrell, when the two were performing “Twelfth Night” together at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. in the late ’90s, and according to Ty he was quite taken with  right away. In a 2010 chat with Redbook, he shared that he had a feeling during their very first date that they would get married one day. “I was slow on the uptake, so it took me a couple of years,” he added.

Advertisement

The pair tied the knot in 2000 and ten years later they expanded their family welcoming their daughters, Frances and Greta. “I guess I didn’t realize that you actually fall in love with children, that like with any other relationship, as time goes on you actually love them more,” Ty shared with Elle. 

Ty Burrell, who has had his share of ups and downs over the years, has also said that parenthood only strengthened his relationship with Holly. “[W]hen you have this collective goal that is a human being, it’s an inspiring rally point,” he told Redbook.

“Modern Family” was a groundbreaking series for its depiction of nontraditional families and its positive portrayal of the monogamous gay relationship between Mitchell Pritchett and Cam Tucker, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet respectively. In real life, Ferguson is happily married to his husband, producer Justin Mikita, and the couple share two children.

Advertisement

Ferguson and Mikita met at a gym in Hollywood where they chatted a bit and kept the conversation going on social media. “I was taken by how handsome he was and how sweet,” Ferguson shared with Variety. Mikita was in a relationship at the time, but when he crossed paths with Ferguson at the gym again 10 months later he was single and the two began dating. The couple became engaged in 2012 and were married in July of 2013. At the time, same-sex marriage had not been widely legalized, but it was legal in New York so that’s where Ferguson and Mikita exchanged their vows.

In 2020 Ferguson and Mikita expanded their family when they welcomed their son Beckett Mercer and again in 2022 when their son Sullivan Louis was born. According to Ferguson, he and Mikita have the parenting thing down to a science, sharing the responsibilities of being a dad. “It’s been a very 50/50 thing .. It’s just been very natural,” he shared with People.

Advertisement

Sarah Hyland was just 16 when she began playing Haley Dunphy on “Modern Family,” so she grew up in front of a very large audience. Hyland’s character had her share of boyfriends as the series went on, and ended up married to Reid Ewing’s character Dylan Marshall. Hyland met her real-life husband, “The Bachelorette” Season 12 contestant Wells Adams, in 2017 when he reached out to her via Instagram. “Have you seen those memes of ‘Slide Into the DMs’? That. He slid into my DMs,” Hyland shared on a 2018 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

Advertisement

Hyland was impressed by Adams’ confidence and the couple began dating, moving in together in 2018. “It’s been perfect,” Hyland told Us Weekly about living with her man. The happy couple got engaged in 2019 and Hyland was clearly over the moon, sharing pics of she and Adams after his romantic beachfront proposal on her Instagram page.

Hyland and Adams tied the knot in 2022 after having postponed their ceremony amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “After that declaration of home isolation, I knew that we weren’t going to be having the big wedding we were planning on for at least two more years or so,” Hyland told Vogue. When the big day finally came it was a beautiful event at the vineyards of Santa Ynez, California. The nuptials were attended by many “Modern Family” alumni, including Sofía Vergara and Nolan Gould, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson even served as Hyland and Adams’ wedding officiant.

Advertisement

On “Modern Family” Eric Stonestreet played Cam Tucker, the longtime partner of Mitchell Pritchett, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. In real life, Stonestreet has been engaged to his fiancée Lindsay Schweitzer since 2021. Initially, Schweitzer seemed to have cold feet, but Stonestreet won her over. “At first she said no, and then I talked her into it,” the actor shared during an appearance on “Today.” “It was great. It all turned out great!”

Advertisement

In January of 2025, the couple had yet to say “I do,” but they had a very good reason for holding off. Stonestreet and Schweitzer were in the middle of building their dream home in Kansas City, Kansas, which they hoped would serve as their wedding venue. “Right from the beginning of when we started building the house, [the wedding] was like, right at the top of the list of things that we imagined happening here,” Stonestreet shared with People.

And the couple’s dream wedding involved celebrating with Stonestreet’s former “Modern Family” co-stars as well. “We talk about [the wedding] all the time … and how Sofía [Vergara] [would be] dancing out on our lawn,” the actor revealed.

Ariel Winter was just 11 years old when “Modern Family” premiered, playing middle child Alex Dunphy on the hit series. In 2025, Winter was 27 and in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, actor Luke Benward. The couple began dating in 2020 and were close friends before their relationship took a turn for the romantic. According to Winter, that was the key to she and Benward’s solid bond. “There are so many things that go into a partnership, but I think what I find so important is a ‘best friendship,'” she shared with E! News.

Advertisement

Winter and Benward also have in common a love for animals, as they share six dogs: Chloe, Casper, Cupid, Cleo, Cash, and Cobain. The fur babies make appearance in the couples’ social media posts, and in 2023 Winter took to Instagram to wish Benward a happy birthday, referring to him as “the most amazing man & dog daddy.”

Julie Bowen’s character on “Modern Family,” Claire Dunphy, was happily married to Phil Dunphy and the mom of their three kids, Haley, Alex, and Luke. Offscreen, Bowen’s family life was not so harmonious as in 2018 the actor filed for divorce from Scott Phillips, her husband of 13 years. During their marriage, Bowen and Phillips welcomed three sons, Oliver, John, and Gustav, and Bowen credited motherhood with helping her deal with the pain of her divorce. “The beauty of having three children is they don’t give you much time for thinking,” the actor shared with Us Weekly.

Advertisement

During an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2022, Bowen told guest host Adam Devine that she was “very single” and said that she had retired from dating. Bowen also explained that her dog, Gertrude Stein, was her retirement gift to herself and that if she were to entertain a male guest she’d use Gertrude as an excuse to ask them to leave. “Yeah, the dog is my gatekeeper,” Bowen quipped. But there was one man for whom Bowen would made an exception when it came to her dating life. “[W]ould I come out of retirement for Harry Styles?… Oh hell yeah,” she revealed.

Adam Devine had a recurring role on “Modern Family” as Joe Pritchett’s nanny and Haley Dunphy’s boyfriend. Haley eventually ended up married to Dylan, and in real life Adam Devine married actor Chloe Bridges. Devine and Bridges first met in 2014 while flying to the set of the film “The Final Girls” they were shooting together, only Devine didn’t realize who Bridges was when she was talking to him on the plane. “We were shooting the same movie, but I didn’t know that because I’m an idiot who doesn’t read emails,” Devine told People. “So, she’s trying to chat me up and meanwhile, I just think ‘this babe is hitting on me!'”

Advertisement

The pair bonded while making the movie and began dating in 2015 and Devine proposed in 2019. The couple originally planned a bigger wedding, but had to make adjustments due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Devine and Bridges ended up tying the knot in an intimate ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. “What a blast! … I love Chloe so dang much and I’m so happy to call her my Wife,” Devine captioned a beautiful Instagram photo of their wedding day.

In 2024, the couple expanded their family when they welcomed their first child, a son named Beau. Fatherhood agreed with Devine and he admitted he hoped to someday have an even larger family. “I wish I would’ve had kids sooner. I love it, and I want to have 11 of them,” the actor shared with People.

Advertisement

Dana Powell made many appearances on “Modern Family” playing Pameron Tucker, the older sister of Eric Stonestreet’s character Cameron Tucker. On the show, Pam had a tumultuous relationship with her husband, Cam’s first crush, Bo, but in real life Dana Powell has been happily married to her husband, Dan Tipton, for decades and the two share a son named Henry.

Advertisement

Powell met Tipton, who eventually became a production supervisor for “Modern Family,” while attending college at Missouri State University. After graduation, Powell was working at a local TV station and Tipton was a car salesman, but he had faith that they would have a better life if they took the leap and moved to Los Angeles. “He was like, ‘I’m selling cars. This is not what I want to be doing. I’m going to L.A. in a month, and I really hope you want to come with me,'” Powell shared with 417 Magazine.

It turned out Tipton was right as both found work in the entertainment industry and their relationship flourished. In 2024 the couple celebrated 23 years of marriage. Powell posted a sweet carousel of pics herself and Tipton on Instagram to celebrate, captioning it in part, “The life we have created together is incredible, and this journey has been so wild. He has stood by me through it all, the good and the bad.” Powell’s TV brother Stonestreet jokingly commented on the post, “Prayers for Dan.”

Advertisement

Nathan Lane guest starred on “Modern Family” as wedding planner Pepper Saltzman, a role that garnered him three Primetime Emmy nominations. On “Modern Family” Lane’s character married his assistant, Ronaldo, and started a family. In real life, Lane married his longtime love Devlin Elliott after dating for 18 years. Elliott is an actor and producer who works in the theater world. 

Advertisement

Lane and Elliott have been fairly private about their relationship over the years, but Lane has praised his partner on numerous occasions. In 2018, Lane thanked Elliott in his Tony acceptance speech, getting emotional as he said, “to my dear husband, Devlin Elliott, the greatest blessing in my life” (via USA Today). Then in 2023 during an appearance on “The View,” Lane gushed about his husband, saying, “[H]e’s the greatest person in the world and I couldn’t get through my life without him” (via People).

The couple wed in 2015 and in addition to supporting each other’s careers, they have collaborated on a project as well. Lane and Elliott co-authored a children’s book called “Naughty Mabel” about a sassy French bulldog inspired by their own pet. “She’s a little neurotic and needy at times. It’s like living with a supermodel,” Lane quipped to USA Today.

Advertisement