‘Modern Family’ actors who play gay couple dish on real life

March 24, 2010 by emily
Filed under: Actors

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

USA Today has an interview with Eric Stonestreet, 38, the flashy and affectionate Lion King-loving Cameron Tucker, who moonlights as Fizbo the clown and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, 34, his longtime partner, the tightly wound and Fizbo-loathing lawyer Mitchell Pritchett.

Here are some of the highlights from the interview with the one of the most high-profile gay couples on prime time:
Ferguson: “He has this very Southern personality. He’s always very chatty with people, and he gets very emotional. It’s very sweet. I call him Pollyanna, basically.”

Stonestreet: “You do make fun of me, but it’s OK. Jesse is constantly using the bathroom in his trailer and telling everyone about it. Always announcing to the set and to the crew (when he has finished). I never once go to the bathroom in the trailer! It’s the worst place in the world to go to the bathroom.”

“Jesse and I are going to be friends forever. This show has put us together,” Stonestreet says.

Stonestreet is straight, and also single, in real life. Being on one of prime time’s hits hasn’t exactly been a boon to his dating life.

“To meet from the ground up a girl is difficult. Being introduced by friends is a little easier,” he says. “I never want to seem embarrassed or ashamed that I’m playing a gay person. So I would never want to be like, ‘Hey, I’m not gay.’ ”

Ironically, Ferguson says, “we were finding when we were going out, especially at the beginning of the show, that a lot of men were hitting on Eric and a lot of women were approaching me.”