Modern Family Star Julie Bowen Has Totally Transformed

Julie Bowen has totally transformed since her days attending private school in Baltimore. She's endured her fair share of ups and downs to get to where she is now, from the lows of physical and mental health issues, to the dazzling highs of living her dream as a main cast member on "Modern Family" earning as much as $500,000 per episode, per Variety. But, thankfully, Bowen, who has legs for miles, wouldn't change a thing about her stunning evolution. 

When asked by Woman's World in 2025 what advice she'd give to her younger self, she responded, "I was a little old lady even as a kid. I worried about everything — money, school, the future. I'd love to say, 'Relax, it'll all work out,' but maybe that's what made me independent. So maybe I wouldn't change it." And we can totally understand why Bowen would keep her rise to fame exactly the same, because her slow burn to the top has been nothing short of inspiring.

Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer was born in Baltimore in 1970 to John Luetkemeyer and Suzanne Frey, who taught her the importance of hard work and independence. Bowen — who has two sisters, Molly and Annie Luetkemeyer — told The Wall Street Journal that when she was young, her dad advised her, "He who has the gold makes the rules," adding, "To me, that meant financial independence is key to being your own person."

She also found independence by attending private school, where she became comfortable speaking in front of crowds and discovered a passion for performing. "Everyone had to play sports and perform in the play beginning in the third grade. We also had to give speeches in front of an assembly," she said. "Being on stage felt natural. I saw kids up there mumble or make themselves small. I felt I was finally in a place where I could make myself as big as I wanted," Bowen added. The future "Modern Family" star rocked her natural hair color at the time, a dirty blond shade, as seen in her adorable childhood photos.

As a teenager, Julie Bowen struggled with her mental health and body image. "I was a very depressed and anxious teenager and I felt a lot of shame about my body," she said on her "Quitters" podcast, adding that she started running excessively as a coping mechanism, which made her lose a lot of weight. "I couldn't stop managing my anxiety and my depression with this feeling, this kind of clarity of starving," she said. The Baltimore native said her parents noticed she wasn't living her healthiest life, but when she tried to rectify it, her intrusive thoughts began again.

Bowen also spoke about the difficult time on the "Tamron Hall Show," sharing she eventually visited a facility for treatment. "I think I interpreted being messy or making mistakes or having an ass or, like, a little fat coming out of the top of your jeans or something as somehow a symbol that you couldn't contain yourself. That you were too much. And that to be good meant staying inside the lines, literally and figuratively," she explained.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website. If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

After high school, Julie Bowen went on to study at the prestigious Brown University. "My parents told me to get an education, whether I 'used' it or not, and I did. It is still the greatest thing I have ever done," she told the Baltimore Fishbowl. But this future star didn't study theater. She felt too intimidated by the course and instead signed up for Italian Renaissance studies, which included studying in Florence, Italy. "As a blonde, 20 years old, in Italy — you don't have to pay for s**t," she joked to The Brown Daily Herald. "But I was really studying! It was hard!"

Unlike her "Modern Family" co-star Sarah Hyland, Bowen's career didn't begin as a teen. Instead, it got a shot in the arm after she graduated and moved to New York City. "[I] got an agent, and was cast in commercials. I also studied at a small actors' studio," she told The Wall Street Journal. And it wasn't long before she landed a regular acting gig.

Despite not having any acting experience, Julie Bowen ditched her second last name and landed her first acting gig in 1991. That small gig led to a role on the soap opera "Loving" the following year, which, unfortunately, brought back her teenage vulnerabilities. "Women in Hollywood are tiny, but women in soap operas are the tiniest people alive!" she told Parade. "All the clothes were designed for girls with tiny waists and boobs. I was the exact opposite. I'm a normal-sized girl, and no matter how skinny I get, I don't have a waist. It gave me a lot of insecurities," she said.

Bowen later moved to Los Angeles where she paid the bills by waiting tables. While there, she got her biggest role yet starring alongside Adam Sandler in 1996's "Happy Gilmore," which she described as "my first big quote unquote break" on "The Skinny Confidential". Not that she knew that at the time.  Bowen had a haircut that, while strongly associated with her character, she wasn't a fan of, admitting, "I thought, well no one's gonna see this, and that's fine because my hair is really bad." Not only was Bowen's hair shorter and slightly different than we'd come to know it on "Modern Family," but she also embraced one of the hottest trends of the 1990s, the water bra. "That is chicken cutlets on top of chicken cutlets, with a water bra," Bowen lightheartedly admitted on "Busy Tonight" after seeing a snap from the set.

After the success of "Happy Gilmore," Julie Bowen's career started picking up. In 1998, she got a gig on "ER" and, two years later, she landed another of her most memorable roles in the comedy drama "Ed" alongside Tom Cavanagh. The show ran for four seasons. But just as her acting career was taking off, Bowen experienced a scary health issue. She was diagnosed with a cardiovascular condition in 1999 and had a pacemaker fitted. "I shot the pilot of 'Ed' and immediately had to go get a pacemaker afterwards," she said on "Inside Of You." "I was like, 'Oh my God. My life is over. This is so weird. I'm going to die." 

Fortunately her health issues didn't slow her down, and in the mid-2000s, she appeared in two of the biggest shows of the era: "Lost" and "Boston Legal." Bowen revealed the odd way she landed her "Lost" role on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," explaining she was approached for the gig by a writer who received a joke Christmas card her husband sent out. But while the mid-2000s saw Bowen thrive, they weren't without mistakes. Bowen told Parade she turned down a role in the iconic comedy "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." "[I] said, 'I don't really get it. No, thanks.' Idiot! I feel like a dummy every time I see that movie," she said.

As Julie Bowen's star power grew, she also found love. The actor married Scott Phillips in 2004, and told Parade he was the yin to her yang. "He's the perfect counterbalance. He has a calming effect on me, and he's fun," she gushed. Three years later, they became parents for the first time and welcomed their son Oliver under dramatic circumstances. "I was at work on 'Boston Legal' pretending to be in labor, and all of a sudden my water broke," she told March of Dimes.

In 2009, the twosome became parents twice more to twins John and Gustav. Bowen opened up about how motherhood changed her life in an interview with Baltimore Fishbowl. "Having three kids in two years ... has forced me to shift a great deal of focus outside of myself and my own goals which is, frankly, much more healthy," she said. She also sweetly told Today of her kids, "They are the center of my life — for better or for worse. They're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and they're the last thing I think about before I go to bed at night."

Julie Bowen became a household name in 2009 when "Modern Family" debuted on ABC. The sitcom became an instant success, with 12.6 million viewers tuning in to the pilot episode. Bowen wasn't convinced she'd even land the role of busy mom Claire Dunphy though, as she was pregnant with twins when she auditioned and shot the pilot. "They kept bringing me in over and over and sort of staring at my humongous belly, and I thought, 'I'm never getting this job,'" she told People. The star was so adamant she'd lost the role she recalled, "[I] went home and cried and cried and cried."

Of course, she landed the gig, but things didn't instantly get easier. "I spent the first year or year and a half in 'Modern Family' being terrified because everybody there was so funny and so good at what they did," Bowen said on "I Choose Me with Jennie Garth." "I'm like, 'I don't belong here.'" She also struggled with guilt over being away from her children. "I'd be gone for three weeks, and when I thought about the boys, I panicked: I'm a terrible mother. John and Gus will forget me," she told "O, The Oprah Magazine."

However, there was a light in the "Modern Family" tunnel. Bowen said seeing herself in a blooper reel from the show helped her confidence and made her realize she had the comedy chops. "It gave me this little internal boost. Like maybe I didn't have to feel like an imposter all the time," she told Woman's World.

Despite the huge success of "Modern Family" — including Julie Bowen winning her first Emmy Award in 2011 – she was still looking to flex her acting muscles outside the sitcom. Bowen appeared in 2011's "Horrible Bosses" and 2018's "Life of the Party". She also had big plans to work behind the camera and told People in 2015. "I love 'Modern Family,' but the reality is, it is a very safe place. I think to get that feeling of pride back, I need to feel a little unsafe again."

Bowen's newfound fame also meant a lot more public scrutiny, but she wasn't afraid to share some of her beauty secrets. "I've had lasers leveled at my face, and I would like to do Fraxel," she told Health of the procedure Courteney Cox has been upfront about. But she didn't have plans to do any drastic plastic surgery. "I do find it odd that people choose to do stuff that makes them look like crazy Hollywood faces, but I've got zero judgment about it," she said. The talented star later admitted to trying Botox (which can have health benefits beyond vanity), but said it didn't go well, leaving her unable to use her mouth properly. "[It was] really bad," she said on "Busy Tonight" (via celebrity).

Cracks started showing in Julie Bowen and Scott Phillips' marriage in 2018. The two spent their 12th wedding anniversary apart, as Bowen attended the Emmys without her husband. "He's come every year, he's been so supportive and this year he was playing in a tennis tournament and I wasn't nominated as an individual so I said, 'What do you want to do on our anniversary?'" she told People. "It's tough to be a purse holder," she added. Shortly afterwards, a source told InTouch, "[They've been] living separate lives for a while now." Bowen filed for divorce in February 2018, with TMZ reporting that the official date of their separation was almost exactly a year earlier.

Despite facing a difficult time personally, Bowen's career was still going from strength to strength and she tried something new in 2019. She made her TV directorial debut for the "Modern Family" episode "Red Alert," which she also starred in. Bowen took on another directing gig that same year with the short movie "Girl Code." Though she was still living and working in Los Angeles, the mom of three was also dreaming of her hometown. "I would love to get a job [acting] in Baltimore," she told Baltimore Style. "There would be no better way to reacquaint myself and work and live there."

"Modern Family" came to an emotional end in 2020 after 11 seasons, and Julie Bowen made it known how difficult she found ending such a poignant chapter in her life. "People say, 'What are you going to do when 'Modern Family' ends?' And I'm like, 'What are you going to do when your family ends?' It's not going to be easy," she told Us Weekly. 

But the star had big plans for when the sitcom took its final bow, including a long-awaited plastic surgery procedure. On "The View," she spoke candidly about going under the knife, suggesting she'd had a tummy tuck. "The twins just ripped [my stomach] open. And I said, 'As soon as Modern Family's done' ... I'll get it fixed," she said, sharing she booked a procedure for three days after filming wrapped. The actor went on to fill the "Modern Family"-shaped hole in her life with a slew of other projects. She reunited with her "Happy Gilmore" co-star Adam Sandler on the movie "Hubie Halloween" and popped up in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" before executive producing Disney's "Prom Pact."

Bowen also turned her attention to podcasting and launched her "Quitters" podcast with Chad Sanders in 2022. "I quit a pretty pernicious eating disorder that plagued my younger years. I 'quit' a marriage and, frankly, romantic entanglements in general. There's so much more I WANT to quit and so many people whose stories of quitting fascinate me," she said in a press release. "My curiosity — and endless questions — can be annoying to those around me, but it's just right for a podcast."

Not only did Julie Bowen begin co-hosting her own podcast after leaving "Modern Family" behind, her career took another unexpected turn in 2023 when she launched her own skincare line. This was no standard celeb foray into beauty though, as she had a specific target audience — and it wasn't her. Instead, she created JB Skrub for teenagers, particularly young men.

"We've lived this, we're currently living the 'evolution of smell' into the pre-teen/teen years, and we're ready to help ourselves and parents everywhere introduce a simple 'get clean' routine to their kids," Bowen told New Beauty. She also spoke candidly about the way so many beauty products are gendered and made it clear although her sons inspired her line, it was for everyone. "The beauty industry starts marketing to girls at an early age. As for the majority of boys, the issue isn't that they are dirty. The issue is that no brand is directly speaking to them, and they don't know how to get clean!" she said.

In 2024, Julie Bowen starred in the TV thriller "Hysteria!" and admitted it was an intentional turn away from her "Modern Family" character. "I read the pilot, and I'm like, 'I'm okay. I don't need to do another, just mom.' But then, by the end of the pilot, you realize something's wrong, really wrong with her. And we don't know whether she's possessed by the devil or she's completely in her head and that she's a crazy person. And I thought, I like that," the businesswoman told People. Bowen also told Decider, "[It's] exciting to take on a new challenge."

But that didn't mean she wasn't willing to reprise the character — or an even older one. In 2024, her career came full circle when she teamed up with Adam Sandler again on "Happy Gilmore 2," which was released the following year. When she first heard about the sequel, Bowen wasn't convinced she'd be asked back. "I heard that it was happening and I thought, 'Well I won't be in it,'" she told The Hollywood Reporter, admitting she thought she'd be replaced by a younger actor.

Outside of work, Bowen was learning to enjoy every moment as she started a new chapter as an empty nester. When asked to describe her life in 2025, she told Woman's World, "Tragically messy — and I think that's great. I used to get overwhelmed by the chaos, and I'd go organize screws by size and color. That's how I coped. My boys are 16, 16 and 18 now — one's about to leave for college. This full-throttle phase is winding down. I'm trying to savor it," she added. Clearly, Bowen's stunning transformation isn't over yet.