Actor Eric Stonestreet talks about his mom, his health and his role in the new Dexter series
EXCLUSIVE! Eric Stonestreet on Navigating Life’s Unexpected Twists and Turns After Modern Family
Published on May 08, 2025
In 2009, Eric Stonestreet filmed his first episode as uber-attentive husband and dad Cameron Tucker on a new sitcom called Modern Family. It would turn out to be one of the best TV shows of all time. “I was so excited about my life,” he says. Yet, he reveals, “I had something looming over my head.”
As Stonestreet explains to Reader’s Digest, he was secretly struggling with a new diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Though his mother, Jamey, and father, Vince, had spent years dealing with the same disease (in which the body can’t use insulin properly), he felt ashamed to tell them. “I just wasn’t comfortable sharing it,” he says. “[When I finally did], my mom immediately goes to: ‘This is our fault because it runs in our family.’ Then she said, ‘Well, we hope you take it more seriously than we did.'” (His dad died of leukemia in 2021.)
Today, Stonestreet—and his mom—are both thriving. The two-time Emmy-winning actor is currently working on the new sequel series Dexter: New Blood (which premieres July 11 on Paramount+). Speaking to us a few weeks before Mother’s Day, he’s also looking forward to spending the day honoring her plus all the other special women in his life.
Read on to learn more about Stonestreet’s health journey, details about his deliciously wicked turn on Dexter and why he just may need to disable his mom’s Instagram account.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Reader’s Digest: You’re now 53, and your mom is 80. How has your relationship evolved?
Eric Stonestreet: I’ve been very fortunate in my life to have great parents. So our relationship transitioned quite a while ago away from just parent-kid. Now I consider my mom a friend. She’s got a great sense of humor, and I love featuring her [in my ventures] in different ways. I think she secretly likes being featured too.
Reader’s Digest: She pops up quite a bit on your Instagram! Is she good about social media, or is it still a work in progress?
Eric Stonestreet: Yes, she’s on Instagram. But we’re constantly threatening to take it away from her. Every once in a while, my sister [Mauria] will send me a screenshot because clearly my mom thinks she’s messaged someone privately and she’s really just commented on her page for everyone to see. I know that happens with a lot of people’s parents! And I’m worried about all the online scams and direct messages. So we’re careful. But yeah, it always cracks me up when I’m on my Instagram feed and I’ll get this super close-up picture of my mom’s cat. I’m like, “Oh, Mom’s on Instagram again!”
Reader’s Digest: You recently launched a partnership with Mounjaro, which helps lower blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes. Can you talk about the connection between you and your mom and the medication?
Eric Stonestreet: So after my diagnosis, I didn’t really take it seriously. I had all these ebbs and flows over the years until two doctors came into my life and put me on a bunch of successful regimens. But it wasn’t until 2021 that one of my doctors told me about this new drug called Mounjaro. It has turned out to be phenomenal for me. I told my mom that she needed to ask her endocrinologist about using it specifically for herself, which she did. Now she’s on it too. Mounjaro’s new campaign focuses on finding a partner to share your Type 2 diabetes journey to help take away the stigma.
Reader’s Digest: How has T2D affected your lifestyle? Can you still eat what you want?
Eric Stonestreet: Everyone’s allowed to eat a little bit of everything that they love. I think that’s a misconception with Type 2. I don’t deprive myself of anything. Everything’s fine in moderation.
Reader’s Digest: Do you have a favorite comfort food?
Eric Stonestreet: I love Italian food. I’m going to have a nice Italian dinner tonight. On a cold day, I want something warm and cozy like mashed potatoes and gravy or corn. I like holiday food, so I always want Thanksgiving and Christmas to get here because of the tradition of eating the meals that you remember as a kid.
Reader’s Digest: What are you cooking up for Mother’s Day?
Eric Stonestreet: We always do something nice. Well, I’ll probably cook—I do a lot of the cooking. And my fiancé [pediatric nurse Lindsay Schweitzer] is a mom to a 13-year-old. So we’ll cook for her, and I know I’ll get a special request from my mom to make something for her as well.
Reader’s Digest: How are things going on Dexter: New Blood? What are you allowed to say?
Eric Stonestreet: Well, I’m allowed to say that I’m going to work on it again tomorrow at a very early time. But it’s been great sharing space with [stars] Michael C. Hall and Peter Dinklage and Uma Thurman and the whole gang. It’s a tip-top operation over there, and I’m very impressed. I’m flattered that [the producers] called and thought of me for the role of Al.
Reader’s Digest: What’s the story with your character?
Eric Stonestreet: He’s from Wisconsin. In my mind, he grew up outside Chicago. He’s some sort of salesman, he travels around and he’s a bit of a man-child. The wardrobe people have so brilliantly given me clothes to wear that reflects that maybe I never grew up after 1991. And yeah, I’m intermixed with a bunch of not-so-great people. You can take from that what you want.
Reader’s Digest: It’s going to be strange for fans to see you in a non-comedic role, no?
Eric Stonestreet: Make no mistake—I’m still the funniest one in the group. So I’m bringing humor, just maybe not the kind of humor you’re used to seeing from me. But as I always remind people, I killed a lot of people on TV [as serial killer Malcolm Boatright on The Mentalist] before I got the good, good blessing of being cast in Modern Family. I always thought I’d make it big on a procedural drama of some kind.
Reader’s Digest: Modern Family remains so watchable all these years later. Do you have a favorite episode you like to revisit?
Eric Stonestreet: That’s a hard one. I kind of stopped watching the show, but not because I’m some pretentious actor and I don’t want to watch myself. I just decided that I was leaving myself this time capsule for the future. But then it turns out that shooting 250 episodes, it’s impossible to remember all 250 anyway! So I don’t remember shooting a lot of scenes. The thing that I always go back to is how much fun we had—whether it was right outside that scene, what we were doing right before, what was happening the night before or when we all got to the makeup trailer.
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