Modern Family Star Julie Bowen Gets Candid About Her Sexuality

Former "Modern Family" star Julie Bowen is opening up about her sexuality and getting very candid about a past crush that never came to be. The actor has drawn quite a lot of attention to her romantic life over the years, after becoming one of the most famous TV stars in the game playing busy mom Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom. 

During her rise to becoming a household name, she was married to Scott Phillips and pregnant with twins when she filmed "Modern Family"'s pilot. Bowen and Phillips got married in 2004 and the two share three kids together, but ended their marriage four years later. People confirmed they'd officially finalized their divorce in September 2018, revealing the former couple had split a whopping $25 million worth of assets between them. The two stayed pretty quiet about their split, though Bowen joked about not exactly jumping back into the dating pool following the breakup on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in January. "[I'm] very single," Bowen admitted on the now defunct daytime talk show, joking she'd gotten a dog as a present to commemorate her retiring from dating.

Now, though, Bowen (who's admitted to crushes on both Sofia Vergara and Stephen Colbert) is speaking out about a time she did date, sharing a somewhat surprising fact about her romantic past which involved another woman.

Julie Bowen spoke out about her dating past on "Quitters" on October 31, admitting she once had a major crush on a woman. "I'm straight. I've always been straight. I was in love with a woman for a while but she didn't love me back. She liked women, but she didn't like me in that way," Bowen shared. Though the actor appeared to suggest she would have been open to the relationship had it come to fruition, she added, "It never really took off so I never really had to challenge my concept of my sexuality." The star also admitted she was hopeful there will be a time people don't have to confirm their sexuality publicly, noting, "What you do with your body should not be the first thing we know about people, or care about."

But while it sounds like Bowen hasn't dated someone of the same sex, we know she's gotten cozy with a famous male before, as prior to her and Scott Phillips' marriage, she was with none other than David Spade. Bowen opened up about their romance on "Life is Short with Justin Long" in 2020, sharing she was still good friends with the "8 Simple Rules" star but would never get back together with him. "He's a lovely person and a good friend, not a great boyfriend," she admitted. "You should not date David Spade, but I don't regret dating him because he's a lovely person."