'I Was Running Away': Jesse Tyler Ferguson Opens Up Severe Anxiety During ‘Modern Family'

Jesse Tyler Ferguson recently spoke about the anxiety he experienced while working on Modern Family during a recent episode of his Dinner's On Me podcast

He recalled a particularly stressful panic attack he had at the time.

"I remember being in New York for gay pride. We weren't there for gay pride, but gay pride was happening that Sunday ... the point is, the streets were very full of people from the gay community," Ferguson shared.

"I was having pretty significant panic attacks near the end of Modern Family," the actor said.

While in New York, Ferguson revealed he "basically had a panic attack like in the streets."

"I was at a restaurant, it sort of came on, I was trying to look for a place to be quiet and private, but there was like, literally the streets were teeming with people," he said.

His partner and fellow actor JustinMikita was trying to pay the bill when Ferguson became so overwhelmed he started "running" away.

"I remember just flashes of this moment, but I remember being in a vestibule of a building, trying to just like catch my breath and hyperventilating, and someone coming up to me asking if they needed to call an ambulance, and I was like freaked out to turn around," he said.

Being recognized from Modern Family added to his stress. He joked that he is a "gay icon" because of his portrayal of an openly gay character on the sitcom.

"At that moment I was kind of by myself and this person was asking if they could call an ambulance, and I was afraid to turn around because I thought they were going to recognize me and I was like, 'I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.'"

Modern Family aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020. It won a total of 22 Primetime Emmy Awards.

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 5:14 PM.