For 11 seasons, we were blessed with the wonderful series that was Modern Family. The hilarious sitcom revolves around three separate households all within the same family. Together, we see their extreme differences in parenting, problem-solving, and how their interesting family dynamic works for them all.
Although there is a lot of love between these three units, there’s also a ton of differences. Like many of us, we see each character lose their cool every now and then. These are just some of the worst things 10 of the characters did on Modern Family.
GLORIA - KILLED THE NEIGHBOR’S DOG
In the episode “Unplugged,” we learn that the Prichett-Delgados are dealing with an annoying dog next door. After the dog wakes up Gloria for the last time, she storms over to have a word with the neighbor. The man is startled by Gloria’s hostility but doesn’t deny the fact that his dog is annoying. In fact, he states that the dog is actually his ex-wife’s and it shouldn’t be there much longer.
However, it appears that Gloria took the matter into her own hands because their neighbor marches over one day asking for his dog. One day the dog’s there and the next it’s not. Gloria swears on everything she didn’t do anything to the dog but once the doors are closed, we learn another story…
PHIL - ASSAULTS THE COLOGNE SALESMAN IN THE MALL
It’s not very often we see Phil Dunphy snap. He’s typically a goofy and well-composed man. Even at his weirdest, people seem to love his antics. In this particular episode, Phil can only handle so much after he’s had a tough day. Phil and Jay take Luke and Manny to the mall to go shopping for the school dance and after a few too many insults from Jay, Phil’s had enough. Sadly for the mall salesman, he messed with Phil at the wrong time.
As Phil’s walking down the escalator, a salesman sprays Phil with cologne without his consent which sends Phil into a downward spiral. He then grabs the man’s cologne and begins spraying him throughout the mall.
CLAIRE - THROWS A STUDENT UNDER THE BUS SO HER SON IS GIVEN AN AWARD
In the sixth season, Luke is in his senior year of high school. Whether he cares about graduating or not, his mom is praying to the gods that he does. It was a miracle that Haley graduated and even got into college, so Claire would do anything to see her son thrive.
But viewers didn’t think she would go as far as to bribe the principal into giving her son the Integrity Award at school. And when he denied her advances, she went a step further and moved Luke’s competition’s car into a “no parking zone” so that he would be written up for it, leaving Luke the award. Come on, Claire. Don’t get the children involved.
LUKE - HID HALEY’S ACCEPTANCE LETTER
In the episode “Baby on Board,” we see Mitch and Cam almost adopting a second child and Alex getting ready for prom. And after a few tough denials from colleges, Haley decides she wants to take a gap year to figure out what she wants to do after high school and even move in with Dylan. With the Dunphys’ hopes and dreams for their oldest child crashing around them, they find out that Luke had a pretty big secret — he was hiding Haley’s acceptance letter to college. Although Luke is younger in this episode and didn’t want his older sister leaving the nest, this could have totally ruined Haley’s entire future if he never showed her the acceptance letter.
HALEY - ASSAULTS A POLICE OFFICER
In the fourth season, Haley is finally off to college. Whether she fails or thrives was up to her now because Claire’s controlling ways no longer mattered. In the episode “Arrested,” Claire and Phil’s worst nightmare comes to life when they get a call from the police saying that Haley has been arrested.
When the Dunphys arrive on campus, they realize that not only was Haley drinking underage but she also assaulted a police officer and resisted arrest. To make matters worse, Haley didn’t seem too remorseful about what had happened until she’s eventually kicked out of school.
JAY - DIDN’T ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT HIS SON WAS GAY FOR FAR TOO LONG
A reoccurring theme throughout Modern Family is Mitchell and Claire seeking their dad’s approval. Claire married a man her dad didn’t like and many could say Mitchell felt the same way since he married a man. Jay has made plenty of offensive jokes over the years regarding his son’s sexuality and doesn’t even like the two of them kissing — even though they’re married, have a daughter, and are in a healthy relationship. Jay can be a grumpy old man stuck in his ways, but it’s incredibly hurtful how closed-minded he is to Mitchell and how he chooses to live his life. These two eventually find their footing but it was touch-and-go for a while.
ALEX - TOYED WITH REUBEN’S HEART
As the brain of the family, Alex worried she was too “geeky” to get a guy to like her. Even though Alex is gorgeous, she never felt as pretty or popular as her older sister Haley. To make herself feel better, Alex decides to give in to the temptations of a younger man — Reuben, her brother’s friend.
The sad thing is, Reuben is clearly an outcast who worships the ground Alex walks on and yet she shuns him when he even looks her way in public. The fact that she treats Reuben so poorly — and hides her affection for him from the public eye — makes Reuben her whipping boy. Alex may tell Haley she toys with people’s emotions, but she does the same exact thing.
MITCHELL - LEGALLY GAVE HIS DAUGHTER HIS LAST NAME INSTEAD OF CAMERON’S
In “Two Monkeys and a Panda,” we see Cameron wanting to write an adorable book about adoption through cartoon characters. As he’s looking through old adoption papers, Cameron realizes that Lily’s last name isn’t hyphenated at all. Instead of being Lily Tucker-Pritchett, her name was legally Lily Tucker Pritchett. This means that Mitchell gave Lily Cameron’s last name as her middle name. As we find out, Mitchell did this intentionally because he wasn’t sure if he and Cameron would last and he wanted to protect his daughter in case Cameron ditched them. As upset as Cameron was, he eventually understood why Mitchell did it, but it’s still one of the most conniving things a parent and partner could do.
CAMERON - TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MITCHELL
A local newscaster decides to do a full story on Cameron for being an openly gay football coach. A tad jealous, Mitchell is upset living in Cameron’s shadow and it goes completely to Cam’s head.
Cameron organizes a pancake breakfast for his team while the news cameras roll and he treats Mitchell as a sad housewife whose hard work is never acknowledged. Although Cameron is lovable and funny, he lets his theatrics get the best of him sometimes, which hurts the people he loves.
DEDE - LEFT HER KIDS
Dede may not be a main character any more (especially since they killed her off), but she’s the main reason why Claire, Mitchell, and Jay are the way they are. Dede abandoned her children, her marriage, and continued to make her “first family” feel second best every time she visited. She even tried hooking Claire up with her ex-high school boyfriend…even though Claire was married with three kids. Dede also ruined Jay and Gloria’s wedding out of pure jealousy. Dede did a lot of subtle, evil things during her time on Modern Family, but giving her kids mommy issues was a real low.
