Tragic Details About Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet – The List
You may know Eric Stonestreet for his portrayal of Cameron Tucker in the award-winning ABC sitcom, “Modern Family.” The show ran for an impressive 11 seasons and effectively put Stonestreet’s name on the map. One pinpoint in the show’s claim to fame is the sincerity that lies behind the on-screen family is their real-life connection. “There’s no way that show is successful, as successful as it was, without us being individually great people and then collaborating with great people as well,” he remarked to People in January 2025.
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One of the most difficult things the “Modern Family” cast was faced with was saying goodbye after the show saw its close in 2020. Farewells never get easier, and Stonestreet has also had to say goodbye to loved ones who died — but those aren’t the only heartbreaking events that the Kansas native has had to endure.
He bid farewell to a character that lives close to his heart
Eric Stonestreet shares one notable difference from his “Modern Family” counterpart that initially shocked the world. If you’re not familiar with the series Cam Tucker is a gay man living with his husband Mitchell Pritchett (played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and raising their daughter, Lily (played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons , who is growing up fast). The truth about Stonestreet’s love life, though, is that he identifies as straight and has been engaged to his fiancée, Lindsay Schweitzer, since 2021.
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Despite the one, albeit stark, contrast, the actor shares a lot of characteristics with his former character. Both come from rural backgrounds, share a love of football, and participate in a particularly silly hobby. Since the show’s first season, Cam’s character periodically dresses up as a clown and goes by the alter-ego of “Fizbo,” for the sake of work, at times, and others just out of pure joy.
It’s no wonder, then, that saying goodbye to his character after portraying him for more than a decade was especially heartbreaking. Ahead of the series finale, Stonestreet dedicated an X (formerly Twitter) post to the show and his dear old friend. In the note, he wrote that he had fallen in love with clowning as a kid, and his whole family worked to create this persona that he was able to translate onto the show. “When you met Fizbo 11 years ago, Cam said, ‘Hello old friend.’ Tomorrow, I get to say, goodbye old friend.” Does anyone have a suspiciously long tissue up their sleeve?
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His dreams of a spinoff were quickly dashed
It’s hard to picture anyone other than Stonestreet playing the dazzling and often high-pitched Cameron Tucker, and originally, the actor wasn’t in the running for the part of Cameron, and he couldn’t even see it for himself. It wasn’t until after he was helping a friend with his audition for Cam that the script caught his eye. “It just hadn’t come my direction as far as the physical type yet,” he said during an interview with Back Stage (via Reuters).
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Not only had Stonestreet never auditioned as a queer character before, but he spent the majority of his career diverting from roles that reduced the character traits down to simply being plus-sized. “My getting this part is a great lesson in that you can’t guess what people want in a room while you’re auditioning. You have to be who you are and true to yourself and what naturally fits you. If they’re buying what you’re selling, you get the job.” and he did just that.
When it was announced that “Modern Family” would be ending after 11 seasons, the question that is asked of all long-running shows was once again presented: will there be a spinoff? In this case; however, it was the actors who were game, and the networks who were not. The pilot for a spinoff that focuses on Mitchell, Cam, and Lily was written but quickly rejected by ABC. The natural trajectory of rejection is to assume it’s personal, despite any level of success. During a September 2024 interview with Graham Bensinger, the actor admitted: “I think Jesse and I maybe felt like they thought of us as the old guys, or something like that, that didn’t seem worthy of keeping those characters going. It felt a little hurtful. But people make business decisions.”
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Living in Tinseltown was so awful that he left
Born in Kansas in 1971, Eric Stonestreet grew up far from the hustle and bustle of city life and embraced every aspect of it. After being involved with theater in high school and at Kansas State University, he got the acting bug. Following graduation, he made the move to Chicago where he would enhance his craft at theaters like The Second City and iO. Now more prepared than ever to step into his career path, he moved to California. Tinsel Town was working in Stonestreet’s favor; he got his first on-screen credit on the series “Dharma & Greg” by 1999, appeared on “CSI” for 13 episodes, and went on to find immense success — not to mention 2 Emmys — from “Modern Family.” After the show wrapped, though, Stonestreet found himself in a place in his career where he didn’t necessarily need to be action-adjacent.
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Speaking to Graham Bensinger, the actor revealed that he had moved back to his home state following “Modern Family’s” end. Partially for the comfort of settling down in his hometown but also because of his qualms with LA. “And it highlights all the douchebaggery of our business. It amplifies it. Because I’m here, I’m dealing with people from here … and then I go to Hollywood, and you’re reminded of some of the types of people that you deal with.” On top of that, during an interview with In Kentucky from June 2023, when asked what he loved about his former city, he found pause. “It’s a hard question to answer,” then reduced the rest of his answer to the weather. We can’t blame him, Hollywood certainly isn’t for everyone.
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His mom is a Cancer survivor
Eric Stonestreet’s personal life was influenced significantly after seeing multiple family members battle cancer, but he decided to turn the heartache into something positive. Speaking at the Celebrating Women Luncheon in 2018, Stonestreet revealed that he lost both of his grandfathers and an uncle to the hideous disease, with his grandmother being a survivor and his mom being one, as well.
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Jamey Stonestreet had been diagnosed with uterine cancer first. “Had she not had the uterine cancer, they would not have found the kidney cancer. She had the treatment for uterine cancer and then, at the end of that, they removed her kidney, and she’s been cancer-free for almost 15 years,” Stonestreet revealed during an October 2015 interview with Cure Today. Seeing what many of his family members had gone through, Stonestreet decided to use his traction to raise awareness and research funding for the disease that has taken so much from so many.
Stonestreet has been part of the “Ready. Raise. Rise” campaign, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb, for years, first becoming involved in 2015. The fundraiser is for the sake of Immuno-Oncology research and to honor survivors or anyone who has been affected by cancer. During the 2017 campaign, he remarked: “Anyone who’s been touched by cancer knows it’s a battle – one that involves patients, and often a community of family, friends, doctors, nurses, scientists and advocates around them…I’m joining Ready. Raise. Rise. again to bring us together as a community and take action in the fight against cancer.” Additionally, Stonestreet will frequently visit hospitals and cancer patients in an attempt to spread a little joy and put his caregiving skills to use once again. That’s what we like to call making the best of a devastating situation, not to mention taking steps towards change.
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He lost his dad in 2021 to the same disease that almost took his mother
Eric Stonestreet’s life was touched again by cancer in 2017, when his father, Vincent Stonestreet, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. It was a lengthy and excruciating illness, and Kansas City Hospice spoke with the whole family, including Eric’s brother and sister, to tell his story.
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After living with the illness for four years, Vincent was eventually receiving transfusions weekly, to which Eric’s mother Jamey, remarked, “It got to be so tiring for him. And it wasn’t helping him feel any better.” The family then spoke about the best course of action with and for their father, he decided to stop treatment. Shortly after, on his 80th birthday, he passed away at home, as he wished. Eric shared the news with a touching Instagram post dedicated to his late father. “We will miss him, but I know he lives on in the many, many people he impacted throughout his 80 years on this earth,” he wrote. “I hope reading this helps you remember a loved one with fond memories and that me sharing our dads passing makes you feel closer to your family, those still with us and those who no longer are. We love you dad. You did a great job.”
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In 2022, the Stonestreet family did what they do best by flipping a tragic circumstance on its head and seeing what generosity would pour out by starting the Vincent A. Stonestreet Fund via Kansas City Hospice. Eric said that the funds will primarily go towards resources for hospice patients, but for pediatric in-unit and hospice patients as well.
