Over the past four years, fans have fallen in love with the quirky, yet highly relatable couples on Modern Family, but there is one duo that has helped inspire and enlighten every day Americans to support gay marriage.
Through our TV screens each week, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) have created a family and shared a love that is both honest and real, despite never officially being recognized as a married couple.
However, due to the Supreme Court's ruling that 2009's Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, star Julie Bowen exclusively tells us it's finally time for Modern Family to fully address the topic of gay marriage. And what is the comedy's inspiration? Glee!
Since Glee's premiere, the Fox comedy has had a knack for pairing fun musical numbers with hard-hitting emotional topics. The 43-year-old actress reveals that the issue of same sex marriage will definitely be addressed in Modern Family's season five premiere, and Bowen says they are hoping that this is their first step to be more like Glee.
"We address gay marriage. We address it. I so admire Ryan Murphy and Gleeand how they've taken a musical and a comedy, but they also really deliver very serious messages. We're still like 10 steps behind that. I don' t know if we'll ever be there," Bowen tells us at The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Pre-Emmy Performers Peer Group reception.
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The Modern Family star explains that although they will be touching upon a serious issue, the show will still pepper in their classic Emmy-award winning comedy. "We're still just looking for the laugh, and we do get some of our best laughs I think in the first episode from the gay marriage thing. Appropriate, inappropriate, the whole shebang. And I hope we do end in a truly Modern family way."
Take a look at our exclusive full interview with Bowen above to find out her Emmy dress shopping strategy and get the inside scoop on Sofia Vergara's reaction when she ripped her dress last year!
Don't miss the season five premiere of Modern Family Wednesday Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. on ABC!