Modern Family's Julie Bowen Praised ‘Best Fake Daughter’ Sarah Hyland's Broadway Performance, And Shots Fired At Ariel Winter's Alex Dunphy

Audiences fell in love with the Pritchetts, the Dunphys and all of the branches of the Modern Family tree during the 11-season run of one of the all-time best sitcoms on ABC. After spending such a significant chunk of their lives together, it’s not hard to see how the cast would become like a real family, and it’s always nice to see them reunite. Julie Bowen met up with Sarah Hyland recently and may have inadvertently shaded Ariel Winter in the process.

Sarah Hyland, who played the oldest Dunphy daughter Haley on Modern Family, is currently portraying Connie Francis in Just in Time on Broadway. Her TV mom Julie Bowen had glowing praise after catching a performance and posted a photo of their backstage reunion to Instagram:

They certainly look like a happy mother-daughter duo, don’t they? I couldn’t help but notice something in her caption, though, as Julie Bowen wrote:

Now, I know for your real children, you’re really not supposed to have favorites — or, if you do, you shouldn’t say it out loud or post those thoughts on social media where the other, less-favorable children might see it. Does that rule stand for fake children, too? Because Sarah Hyland isn’t Julie Bowen’s only fake daughter, and I can’t help but wonder how Ariel Winter feels about this.

Ariel Winter played Alex, the brainiac Dunphy middle child, younger sister of Haley, older sister of Luke (Nolan Gould). This seems like a classic case of middle child syndrome to me, always getting forgotten or ignored. I find it doubtful that Julie Bowen actually meant to throw any shade toward Winter and was likely just really excited about Sarah Hyland’s performance.

However, this wouldn’t be the first time Ariel Winter got snubbed by her Modern Family family. Back in 2021, just a year after the longtime series came to an end, some of the members of her TV family came together for a mini-reunion. Sofia Vergara posted a pic of her, Sarah Hyland and Jesse Tyler Ferguson enjoying a picnic lunch, which prompted Winter to inquire about her and Nolan Gould’s invitations.

The Alex Dunphy actress, however, was present when much of the cast reunited for Sarah Hyland’s wedding, and I’d imagine in actuality Ariel Winter is just as proud of Hyland’s achievements in the theater as their TV mom is.

Five years have now passed since Modern Family aired its final episode, and the topic of a reboot, reunion or spinoff has come up plenty of times, most recently by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who seemed to get a little jealous of Eric Stonestreet’s reunion with their TV daughter.

Only time will tell if we’ll ever see the Dunphys on our screens again to hash out this whole “best fake daughter” thing, but in the meantime, you can still stream all 11 seasons of Modern Family with either a Hulu subscription or a Peacock subscription.