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Here’s What Sarah Hyland Would Tell Herself During Her Modern Family Days

Sarah Hyland exclusively looked back on the early days of her time filming Modern Family, noting that she would tell her younger self to "love the people around you, but love you more."

By Kelly Gilmore Apr 29, 2023 9:52 PMTags
Watch: Wells Adams Says Sarah Hyland Turns Into THIS After Some Wine

Sarah Hyland has a few words of wisdom for her younger self.

The Modern Family star, who played Haley Dunphy on the ABC series, reflected on what she would tell herself, if she could, back when she started on the show in 2009.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Haley said in an exclusive interview with E! News at the Tic Tac Experience on April 27, where E! News got an exclusive first taste of the brand's newest flavor launch, Strawberry and Cream. "Love the people around you, but love you more."

Sarah also noted that she would also tell her younger self to keep dancing.

"Continue dancing because you love dancing," she added. "Get back to ballet, and get back to jazz, and flamingo, and ballroom, and all of that. Get back to that world, because you desperately miss it in your thirties and now you don't have the muscles to perform it anymore."

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Modern Family Cast Then and Now

While Sarah may not have kept up with her passion for dance during her time on Modern Family, something else did flourish for her during those years on set: a family-like bond with her onscreen family. In fact, Hailey shared during the Modern Family TV special A Modern Farewell that her husband Wells Adams sought the approval of Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell (who played her onscreen parents) before popping the question.

"When my fiancé proposed, he asked my mom and dad for their blessing," Sarah shared. "Then he also hunted down Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell for their blessing. They really, really are like my second set of parents."

Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Los Angeles LGBT Center

Wells and Sarah had their wedding back in August—which was officiated by Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBC via Getty Images

Fast forward to now and the couple are months into married life. Sarah told E! News on April 27, their romance has remained the same since tying the knot.

"We still do all the really cute stuff for each other that we did before," she added. "Not much has changed in our relationship other than the rings to make it official and maybe the government getting involved, which I think is a beautiful thing."

As for how they plan to celebrate their upcoming one-year wedding anniversary? Sarah has an international idea in mind, but she may be saving it for a later milestone.

"I would love to go back to our [wedding] venue," she shared. "Our wedding was also very old-world European vibes in Southern California, so maybe go to Italy or something like that. I don't think that that's going to happen this year. Maybe five years."

—Reporting by Nikaline Katsilometes

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