Out of all the couples on Modern Family, Jay and Gloria are the least likely and yet they work. With a 20-30 year age gap, many members of the Pritchett family assumed Gloria was after Jay’s money. But after years of marriage and raising Joe and Manny together, it’s clear Gloria and Jay have a deep love for one another that works.
One of the more humorous qualities of their relationship is how they communicate. While outsiders may think they’re constantly bickering and screaming at each other, that’s just how they talk — and it works. And like a few other family members under the Pritchett umbrella, these two also do their best to keep secrets from each other but it never works out. From ignorance to deception, here are 10 ways Gloria and Jay crossed each other.
JAY WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH GLORIA’S FAMILY
When you think about it, Gloria gave up a lot to live in America, but she did what she had to do to make a better life for Manny. Just as Jay is close to his family, Gloria is also very close to her family in Colombia as well. And although Gloria goes to all the Pritchett events without ever complaining, Jay can’t do the same for her.
He constantly groans about how invasive Gloria’s mother is and how her sister never seems to leave. And we only ever see him attempt to go to Colombia once around Thanksgiving, and the trip was canceled. It’s sweet that Gloria gives so much to the family, but it’s rude that Jay doesn’t do the same for her.
GLORIA BREAKS HIS CLAY BUNNY
To celebrate their anniversary, Jay decides to switch up the gift-giving and make something from the heart instead of buying her something flashy like he always does. He takes a pottery class and creates a bunny because it was the first nickname he gave her when they started dating.
When Jay hands the bunny to Gloria, she thinks her real gift is inside the bunny, so she smashes its head off (and finds nothing). Jay has too much pride to admit the bunny was the gift so he goes to the jewelry store to buy her the bracelet she wanted.
JAY’S UNDERCOVER REASON FOR WANTING GLORIA TO BE A US CITIZEN
It was a monumental episode when Gloria finally became a US citizen. It’s one of those things viewers forgot about since she’s been in the US for so long and seemed so accustomed to the American way of life.
Eventually, Jay had Gloria study for the exam so that she could finally be a US citizen, but when Manny told her he only wants her to be an American to wait in shorter lines at the airport, Gloria has second thoughts and is insulted that that was Jay’s real reason. We later find out the actual reason Jay cared so deeply, but you never really know with him because viewers could totally see him being aggravated at airports.
GLORIA SHOT JAY IN THE FOOT
It’s finally the weekend and Lily has a soccer game (that Mitchell is actually coaching). Peculiarly, the Dunphys and the Pritchett-Delgados were missing from the cheering section. After Mitchell calls Jay’s house, he learns Gloria, Manny, Jay, and Claire are all together at his house instead of at the game. With no real excuse, Claire lies to Mitchell and says there’s been an accident: Jay’s been shot! In order to save face and get through the lie, Gloria actually shoots Jay in the foot with a BB gun without his consent.
JAY REFUSES TO LEARN HER FIRST LANGUAGE
There have been a few instances where Jay doesn’t understand what his wife is saying. He jokes about it, of course, but it upsets Gloria when she’s made fun of for mispronouncing a word. It’s hard for her to think of every word before speaking.
Gloria even hires a Spanish tutor for Manny so that she could speak her first language with someone in her own home, but Jay fires him out of jealousy. In an effort to make it up to Gloria, he signed up for Spanish lessons but we never see him try to speak with her in Spanish again.
GLORIA GAVE JAY’S CLOTHES TO HER RELATIVES AFTER SHE DISLIKED HIS NEW STYLE
As an older man, Jay enjoys looking good and having nice things. But after he’s made fun of by a few kids at Barneys, he decides to give up looking nice and comes to terms with being old. As a woman who puts a lot of pride in the way she looks, Gloria is upset with Jay for giving up on himself. However, in another episode, she goes as far as to give away all the clothes of Jay’s she doesn’t like and ships them to her village in Colombia. Jay realized his clothes have disappeared after seeing Gloria’s relatives wearing his shirts via video chat.
JAY STAYED AT A HOTEL TO HIDE FROM GLORIA’S PREGNANCY SNORING
Gloria is a gorgeous woman no matter her size. However, Jay seemed to forget how good he has it when he lies to Gloria about a business trip in San Diego. In reality, he books a night at a local hotel just to get away from Gloria because her pregnancy was making her “huge” and snore uncontrollably. Thanks to Manny, Gloria found out about Jay’s lie and showed up at the hotel to give him hell.
GLORIA HAD A GETAWAY BAG HIDING IN THE ATTIC
In the eighth season, we learn that Gloria saved up enough money for Manny’s college while she was still working. She didn’t want the money in the bank so she kept all the cash in a special bag that she hid. The only problem is, she can’t remember where she put the money.
Jay helps Gloria find the bag of money in the attic, but he also finds a getaway bag of Gloria’s with a VHS tape that said: “If I’m ever found dead or go missing, it was my husband.”
JAY STEALS HER SALSA CUTOUT
Once Gloria gets her salsa business up and running, she starts doing taste-testing in grocery stores. To help sales she has a life-size cutout made next to her product. However, after she gets way too much attention for the cutout, Jay gets getting jealous. Embarrassed to tell her how much it upsets him, he steals the cutout and tries to butcher it. Gloria goes on a hunt to find out who destroyed her cutout and Jay refuses to admit to it until another woman’s life was at stake.
GLORIA LOST STELLA
It’s no surprise that Gloria is not a fan of Stella. Even though the Pritchett-Delgados got Stella because of Gloria, she finds the dog creepy. The creep factor only multiplies when Jay takes a real liking to Stella and treats her as his own kid.
In one episode, Gloria explains that Stella keeps escaping on her watch, so she puts a shock collar on Stella to scare her from leaving the house again. However, all the collar does is scare Stella and make her run away. Jay warned Gloria about those collars, resulting in her going on a dog-hunt all over the neighborhood to find Stella before Jay notices.
