Julie Bowen on the media’s fake feud with Sofia Vergara: “They were hell-bent on pitting us against each other.”
Julie Bowen recently expressed her frustration with the media attempting to create a rivalry between her and her “Modern Family” co-star Sofia Vergara. During an appearance on Jennie Garth’s “I Choose Me” podcast, Bowen explained how the press repeatedly tried to pit the two actresses against each other when they had a genuine friendship.
In this candid conversation, Bowen explains how she and Vergara were often portrayed as adversaries, reminiscent of Archie Comics’ classic “Betty and Veronica” rivalry. “The press kept trying to make me and Sofia look like Betty and Veronica,” Bowen explained. “They were just hell-bent on pitting us against each other, like we hated each other.”
Bowen, who played Claire Dunphy on the long-running ABC sitcom, shared that these fabricated stories were not only disappointing, but also frustrating. The actress emphasized how the media’s insistence on creating tension between them stems from a scarcity mentality, where only one woman can be successful or happy at a time. “It’s a scarcity mentality that only one woman can be happy at a time,” Bowen said.
Rumors of a feud between Bowen and Vergara grew stronger, and they reached a peak around the eighth season of “Modern Family.” To dispel the speculation, Bowen took matters into her own hands during an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” In one memorable moment, Bowen wore one of Vergara’s blouses to show solidarity with her co-star.
Recalling the incident on the podcast, Bowen explained that the decision to wear Vergara’s dress came after she received another email warning her about an upcoming tabloid story. “Every night I get a call or an email saying, ‘So-and-so trash mag is going to run a story that you’re mean to Sofia Vergara because you’re jealous of her fame,'” Bowen explained. In response, she contacted Vergara directly and asked for advice on how to deal with the situation.
Doing her best Vergara impression, Bowen quoted her friend’s light-hearted suggestion: “‘Just borrow my blouse!'” The move not only put the rumors to rest, but also highlighted the genuine friendship between the two actresses.
Bowen also stressed that there has never been any animosity between her and Vergara. In fact, she admires and learns from Vergara’s vibrant personality and confident presence. “I love Sofia, and I also love how different we are, and I also love that she’s fun and humble and vulgar, and she loves life and she loves dancing and eating cake and all of these things,” Bowen said.
The actress also revealed how much she learned from Vergara about being a powerful and confident woman. “I learned so much from being with her about what it means to be a truly powerful, fully self-possessed woman,” Bowen shared. She joked that Vergara exuded confidence and femininity, but Bowen often felt like she was mistaken for a teenage boy from behind.
During the podcast, Bowen also drew parallels between her experience and that of Jennie Garth, who faced similar rumors of a rivalry with her “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-star Shannen Doherty. Bowen acknowledged that the media often tries to create tension between female co-stars, regardless of the truth. “I know they did that to you and Shannen,” Bowen told Garth, referring to long-standing rumors of a feud between Garth and Doherty.
Garth, who recently reminisced about Doherty after her death at the age of 53, agrees that outside forces often complicate relationships between female co-stars. “Even though our relationship was complicated, or sometimes complicated because of outside forces that were intrusive to both of us, we still loved each other,” Garth said in a previous episode of her podcast.
As for Bowen, she’s frustrated by the media’s attempts to create conflict where there wasn’t any. “I thought that was really disappointing on the part of the press. But I never cooperated with that,” she said.
Despite the unfounded rumors, both Bowen and Vergara have enjoyed successful careers. While co-starring on “Modern Family,” the two actresses collectively earned eight Emmy nominations, with Bowen winning in 2011 and 2012. In a post-“Modern Family” project, Vergara recently earned an Emmy nomination for her role as notorious Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco in Netflix’s “Griselda.”
Reflecting on the broader issue of women in Hollywood, Bowen questioned why society struggles to accept the idea of multiple women harmoniously sharing the spotlight. “I don’t understand why there isn’t room in society,” she told Garth. Bowen suggested this mindset has deep roots, speculating, “It’s connected to witches, like if we’re all together we’re so scary.”