Actress Julie Bowen on Teaching Her Kids to Sneeze, Embracing Aging and Saying Farewell to Her Modern Family

After 11 seasons of playing Claire Dunphy on Modern Family, you can understand why fans ask actress Julie Bowen if she’s just like the TV mom she plays. “I’m like, ‘Well, I look kind of like her and we talk the same, but we’re also different. For instance, she can day drink and I cannot.’ Wine makes me sleepy. I wish I had her skills!” Bowen says.

Truth be told, there are similarities. The 50-year-old Emmy winner is a mom to Oliver, 12, and 10-year-old twins, John and Gustav, and she’s the first to admit that sometimes, real life seems like a comedy: “The number of times I’ve had to teach my children how to sneeze…it’s unbelievable. Every sneeze is like the first time they’ve sneezed.”

Bowen is not a germaphobe, but she’s keen on common-sense ways to stay well. That includes getting the flu vaccine (she’s a spokesperson for Xofluza, a single-dose influenza treatment) and not tempting fate: “There’s a door to stage 5 where we shoot Modern Family, and I’m not going to touch that doorknob because it gets about 3,000 hands a day,” she says.

In addition to helping her family and others make it through flu season unscathed, the actress is wrapping her head around the end of a Modern Family era. The show’s final episode is April 8, and although Bowen isn’t quite ready to move out of the Dunphy house for good, she’s thankful to have been a part of the award-winning project. Spry Living caught up with Bowen to discuss closing a major acting chapter and what her wellness routine looks like at 50.

What are you thankful to Claire for teaching you?

Claire taught me how to parent. She had older children when we started, and mine were babies. I was fed the wisdom of the writer’s room and got to learn with these fake children at work. I’ve gotten to watch them grow up, and they have turned out so beautifully if I do say so myself! It’s given me a lot of confidence as a parent. You’re not supposed to be their best friend when they’re little—I got that from Claire. But then I get to look down the pipeline and go, “Hey, Claire gets to hang out with her kids and actually enjoy them. Maybe I will too someday when I don’t have to be the limits-and-boundaries person.”

Related: The Real Reason Julie Bowen's Kids Don't Care That's She On TV

What will you miss about Modern Family?

Oh my God, everything. The friendship, the easy camaraderie, the fact that I have a job. People are like, “You’re not very social.” But I laugh with my friends at work all day. I don’t need to go to a party on the weekends because I have this crazy job that is a party.

Do you have any diet guidelines you live by?

I eat really clean and have pretty simple rules: I try not to eat white food, like white rice, pasta and white bread. There aren’t really any white foods that are good for you when you think about it. Marshmallows? Powdered sugar? Nope. I also like to see the ingredients. If it’s complicated to the point that I don’t know what’s in it, I’m not interested in eating it.

What would you tell your younger self?

I turned 50 in early March, and the clichés about aging are so true. Sometimes, I wish I could put my current brain in my 20-year-old body and say, “Do not worry about all this crap. Do not worry about money or meeting the right person.” I don’t know if it’s exhaustion or wisdom, but the end product is an intelligence that comes from being older. I’m not as quick to get upset about things. I’m still an emotional person, and I’m happy about that—I’ve made money off of it! But I don’t feel like it has to drive me every day.

Do you practice any yoga or self-care to get in a certain mindset?

I’ve never admitted this publicly, but I started meditating last year. I’m afraid to talk about it because I feel like I caught some lightning in a bottle. I just decided I was going to count my breaths one day. I thought, “Well, I’ll count to 100 breaths. I’m not going to think about whether or not I’m doing it right.” I thought it would probably take like seven minutes. I did it and looked at my watch, and it was 24 minutes later! I can’t deny that something happened. That drove me to research it, and after reading about what meditation does to your brain, I was like, “I’m in!”

Is there anything you worry about when it comes to getting older?

I find it disconcerting that 60-year-olds look like 30-year-olds. They do look great! And yes, 50 percent of me wants to do exactly that, but the other 50 percent of me wants to do absolutely nothing and just melt like a proper old lady. As long as I can create work for myself, either as an actor or director or producer, I don’t have to fight the clock as far as not being 25 years old.

What do your sleeping and bedtime routines look like?

I’m not a good sleeper, and I know you’re not supposed to sleep with your iPad, but I do. And I have a really bizarre online shopping habit. At 3 a.m., I’ll read the news, look at some shopping website and fill my cart. But I won’t buy anything. Then, like, two nights later, if I’m back on that website and still like the stuff, I’ll consider it. I love a bargain. Nordstrom Rack is my jam, and I also like Poshmark.

Will you take anything as a keepsake from the Modern Family set?

There are some really ugly things in the Dunphy house that I’ve made fun of for years that are so Dunphy. There’s a calendar in the kitchen that hasn’t turned the page since season one, and I know every item on it. I’m not going to take the Dunphy couch though—I think it has a wooden board inside to keep it up at this point because it’s so saggy. There’s a hallway that we very seldom shoot in, but we’re often standing in it just before we enter the kitchen on set. And there are two drawings of birds. I’ve spent countless hours staring at those birds, so I think that’s something I would take. It reminds me of this little corner of the set where I’ve spent so much time.

Related: Ty Burrell Shares His Absolute Favorite Modern Family Episode

What does your daily routine or look consist of?

My sisters and cousins call me “Derelicte” [from Zoolander] when I have to dress myself. I get up in the morning, and I’m always dressed for a run. I don’t know when that run is going to happen. It might not happen until 6 o’clock at night. I don’t do cute workout clothes because I’m all about comfort, and so they’re stuck with what they call “the homeless athlete” for the rest of the day. I’ll be wearing a parka that I stole from set because I burned it on one of the space heaters (I’ve put duct tape over the hole), running tights and sneakers.

With so many boys In the house, do you manage any time alone?

I live in a house with so much testosterone. As a joke, I will sometimes be like, “Doesn’t anyone want a manicure?” “Does anyone want to have a spa day and do Korean sheet masks together?” They all say no. The reality is I've never been a super girly girl, and so the boy energy sort of works for me, but it’s exhausting. There are times when I just go, “I can't watch this show where everyone is being blown up or I can't listen to this music. Enough!” But I find if I turn the TV off and start reading, they all come and snuggle around. But I’m finally starting to carve out some “me time” as a mom of three. I found out that legally your kids are allowed to be in the house alone for up to an hour. I was like, “You mean I can go for a run with the alarm on and lock the door, and I’m not going to get arrested?” I tell them, “No cooking, no fighting,” and I go. That changed everything. And because they’re older now, I’m not on deathwatch anymore. I can go and lay down and read. I set my alarm for when it’s time to get up and make dinner. Those little windows are great. There aren’t many, but they’re great.

Related: Julie Bowen Reveals the One Thing She Really Wants for Mother's Day

You’re a Xofluza spokesperson. Why did you decide to partner with them?

The flu is tough, and vaccination is not 100 percent. But it’s great to know that there are ways to treat it. I didn’t realize there were options until Genentech came to me with the Xofluza partnership. My sister is an infectious disease doctor. I vet everything medical through her, and she (in the very nerdy way that only an infectious disease doctor can get excited) clapped her hands and said, “do it!” It’s a single-dose treatment, and I am all about efficiency. I have three children and a full-time job. I do not have a lot of time for complicated chemistry.

I am also a really grumpy sick person. I'm a cave dweller. I close myself in the room. I don't want to see people. I don't want to talk to people. I don't have to get waited on hand and foot, but I am not pleasant to be around either—I'm the first to admit it. That's the number one reason right there to get a flu shot: you don't want to be around a grumpy person!

Are you a big germaphobe?

In general, I’m not. But there is a door to Stage 5 at Fox where we shoot Modern Family, and I’m not going to touch that doorknob because it gets about 3,000 hands a day. I'm not Superman. I'm not tempting fate. But otherwise, I use common sense precautions. I don't wrap my children in Saran Wrap, but there are some delightful hand sanitizers that don't smell like death. There's one I have that smells like lavender.

Do you feel like you’re getting sick often, or are you pretty good at taking care of yourself?

I've always felt sort of impervious to pain and illness and injury. But it’s weird as you get older. I've just gone running, and it hurts. And now I'm finding that this whole concept of self-care is for real. You can't do things in your late 40s that you could do in your late 20s, like just push through a run when it hurts. Cause if you do, it's going to hurt for like a month. I definitely have had to incorporate taking care of myself into my fitness regime, which I always thought was kind of silly. I ride a bike a lot. I mix in running, swimming, all kinds of things because just one thing and the body gets mad.

Do you ever deal with insecurity?

My stomach from the twins is a hot mess, and I battle all the time with this. I've had doctors tell me that I have a hernia and split muscles from carrying twins, and it medically needs to be corrected. But I’m like, “if I do it, will I regret it?” I wouldn't debate it if it was painful or if I had to fix it because I couldn't go running or something. It just doesn't look delightful. I definitely don't wear bikinis. But there's also part of me that wants to fight fixing it because it feels like I'm giving in. That’s where I am. I'm on the fence. Ask me in six months!

Next, Jesse Tyler Ferguson says Modern Family has given him baby fever.