Julie Bowen says she was pressured to 'hate' Sofia Vergara (2024)

Julie Bowen recalled feeling like she was being 'pit against' Sofía Vergara when they were filming Modern Family.

The 54-year-old actress, who portrayed Claire Dunphy in the long-running sitcom, said she actually became close to her costar, 52, despite feeling pressured to 'hate each other.'

On Wednesday's episode of Jennie Garth's podcast I Choose Me, she opened up about her relationship with Vergara — who recently said that she is up for a reunion with her costars to make a Modern Family reboot.

'They were just determined to pit us against each other, like we hated each other,' she said. 'It's this scarcity mindset that there's only one woman who can be happy at a time.

'And I was like, "Oh no. I love Sofia, and I love how different we are,"' she added before highlighting the qualities she adores about her costar.

'And I love — she is funny and self-effacing and bawdy, and she loves life, and she loves dancing and eating cake and all these things,' she said.

'I felt it on Modern Family,' she recalled. 'The press kept trying to make me and Sofia, sort of, Betty and Veronica.'

Bowen also compared the nonexistent conflict in her friendship with Vergara to the tabloid narratives Garth and the late Shannen Dohertyfaced when they were filming Beverly Hills, 90210.

'And I know they did that with you and Shannen. I mean, I remember it,' she told the podcast host.

The two-time Emmy winner also said she could not fathom why there is a belief that two women can't coexist together and share the spotlight simultaneously.

'I don't understand why society doesn't have room,' she said. 'It goes back to the witches, like, we're too scary if we're all together.'

She also touched on feud rumors that continued into the eighth season of Modern Family.

To shut down ongoing speculation, she said she made a bold statement during an appearance on TheEllen DeGeneresShow.

'Every night I get a call or email that says, "So-and-so trash mag will be running a story that you are icy toSofia Vergarabecause you are jealous of her fame,' she recalled.

'So I email her last night and then we talk,' she continued. 'And I'm like, "What should I say? Because we're friends."'

She recalled Vergara telling her: 'Please, just borrow my blouse.'

Bowen said that she felt saddened by the false claims surrounding her and her castmate-turned-close friend.

'I found that to be really disappointing on the part of the press, but I just never fed into that,' she said.

'That's a scarcity mindset, and there's no such thing as, like, "Oh, if one woman is doing well, that means others have to step back."

'I can't support that,' she said.

And since then, Bowen said she had Vergara have remained close even after their long-running series concluded with its 11th and final season in 2020.

'I learned so much from being around her about what it is to be a really powerful, completely in herself woman,' Bowen said about the America's Got Talent judge.

'No one would mistake her for, like, a 14-year-old boy from behind like they do me all the time,' she added.

Recently, Bowen celebrated her friend's 52nd birthday in July by making a sweet public tribute and posting a throwback photo of them sharing a hug at Vergara's 2015 Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony.