Keeping it lighthearted! Julie Bowen has one specific reason that she’s not ready for Modern Family to end after 11 seasons.
“Do you know what divorce in the state of California is?” the 49-year-old actress joked to Us Weekly and other reporters at the ABC Winter Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Wednesday, January 8. “I love working and I joke about that and I’m actually very good friends with my ex-husband and he knows very well. Like, I would work, no matter what, I would work.”
Bowen and her estranged husband, Scott Phillips, confirmed their separation in February 2018 after 13 years of marriage. The Happy Gilmore actress and the real estate investor share son Oliver, 12, and twins John and Gustav, 10.
Two years before the couple called it quits, Bowen joked to Us that divorce wouldn’t be in her future because both she and Phillips were “too tired” to deal with the complex process.
“We watch all these people get married and split up and go, ‘Wait, did they get married after us or before us?’” the Horrible Bosses star told Us exclusively at the time. “We outlast all these people. The answer: We’re too tired to do anything else!”
Despite their unexpected split, Bowen and her ex are adjusting to coparenting their boys in a healthy way. The Weeds alum revealed to Us in November 2018 that the three kids were doing “great” less than one year after their parents’ divorce.
“My kids are good and that’s all that matters, you know?” Bowen said at the time.
Not only does Bowen have her children to keep her distracted from her divorce, but she also has the full support of her longtime Modern Family castmates. Though they may not actually be family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson told Us in April 2018 that the costars might as well be blood-related after their years of working together.
“We are really a family within ourselves so obviously we’re going to be there for each other when we have these hard times,” the 44-year-old actor said at the time. “It’s just a part of life.”
The final season of Modern Family airs on Wednesdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET.
