Ed O’Neill Thought Julie Bowen Would Have to be Sedated After Modern Family Finished Filming

Well, well, well. Julie Bowen said one thing, then did the other when it came time to say farewell to Modern Family. While on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bowen previously said she did her fair share of crying and didn’t plan to stick around for the last day of shooting cry fest.

“I’ve definitely done the walking around and saying to people, ‘I love you, working together has been amazing, but come that last day I’m out of here. I’m going to be gone. I’m not hanging out for the crying fest.’ Because I imagine it’s going to be like a big amoeba of weeping, just sort of people hugging and crying. I can’t do it,” Bowen said.

But she did, according to Ed O’Neill, Bowen’s TV dad on Modern Family. When asked who was the most emotional on the day they wrapped their 11-season run, O’Neill quickly named Bowen.

“Well, I’d have to say Julie, Julie Bowen. I thought she was going to have to be sedated and carried out,” he told Ellen DeGeneres. “Everybody was having their moments and I’m going, ‘Let’s get it done.'”

When others pointed out how unemotional he was, O’Neill said, “Four months from now I’ll be getting a massage, I’ll burst into tears.”

O’Neill previously spent 11 seasons as Al Bundy on Married…With Children and there couldn’t be more if a difference with the end of that show and Modern Family. Married…With Children was canceled between seasons, so the cast wasn’t there to say goodbye to each other. In fact, O’Neill said he found out Married…With Children was over while leaving a bed and breakfast in Ohio. A newlywed couple approached him and said they loved his show, but they were “so sorry about it, though.”

A confused O’Neill asked what they meant, and they told him the cancellation news was all over the radio. “I’d rather hear it from you,” he said he told them.

By the time he heard from the network, he said it was six weeks later and they apologized for dropping the ball in communications.

What’s next for O’Neill? “I’m going to finish this water and then…Honestly, Ellen, I’ve never made a plan in my life. I’ll just go along and see what happens. I’m happy that we got the job done and it was a wonderful job,” he said.

Modern Family airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on ABC.