Jesse Tyler Ferguson Explains How Playing a Gay Character on Modern Family Created a 'Coat of Armor' in Real Life

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is crediting one of his most beloved television roles for making people more accepting of his sexuality.

On a recent episode of his Dinner’s on Me podcast, the actor, 48, recalled how his life changed once he joined the cast of Modern Family back in 2009. Talking with guest Nicole Byer, Ferguson said there was a moment where he saw the shift in the way people looked at him.

“I went to Las Vegas, and I had been in Las Vegas a few years earlier, and I sort of got gay bashed a little bit,” he explained. “It wasn't anything violent, but it was definitely like, there was negative energy coming at me from a couple that felt uncomfortable around me and my then-boyfriend.” 

“And then years later I went, after Modern Family, and I remember feeling that same negativity initially, but then they would see who it was, and they would recognize me from being, I am gay, but I'm also that gay one from TV,” he continued.

He went on to explain that people’s “initial instinct” was to judge him until they realized he was a beloved star of Modern Family, which felt empowering in a way.

“There was some weird superpower that I felt like I was being protected by this role that I was also playing,” Ferguson shared. “It kind of gave me this coat of armor, and I had this protection of being this character that people also loved. I don't know. It was really weird.”

Noting that especially right now, there are areas of the country where queer people feel unsafe, Ferguson said he still gets nervous being recognized in public sometimes.

“Like, how are they gonna respond to someone who looks like me and has my political views?” he questioned.

Ferguson is married to producer Justin Mikita, who he met at the gym back when Modern Family was just starting. At the time, Mikita was a law student, but he went on to work on films, musicals and documentaries. 

The two joked to Variety in 2020 about their first run-in in a West Hollywood locker room, where Mikita complimented Ferguson on portraying the first gay monogamous man he had seen on TV. However, the relationship didn’t exactly start there. 

"I was like, 'Full disclosure: I'm in a relationship, but I'd love to get a drink with you as a friend,'" Mikita recalled. "And he said, 'I have enough friends,' which I loved." 

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They reconnected by chance at that same gym 10 months later, and by then, Mikita was single. The now-husbands began dating and got engaged two years later, tying the knot officially in July 2013.

"Justin and I both walked down the aisle — basically two separate aisles — at the same time, being ushered by both our parents," Ferguson recalled. "Then met at the altar together, where Tony Kushner was standing to marry us, which was insane for me because he's such an idol of mine."

In July 2020, they welcomed their first child, Beckett Mercer, and later had a second, Sullivan Louis, in November 2022.