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'Modern Family' Child Actress Shares Reality of Life After Growing Up on TV

'Modern Family' Child Actress Shares Reality of Life After Growing Up on TV

Newsweek09-05-2025
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A Modern Family child star has opened up about what it was like growing up on one of America's most-beloved sitcoms.
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, now 17, who played Lily Tucker-Pritchett, has spoken candidly in a recent TikTok, which garnered more than 153,600 likes and over 1.2 million views. She revealed the realities of growing up from the ages of 4 to 12 on the little screen and her hopes for the future.
The teen explained, while creating a vision board, that she is often asked how she knew what she wanted to do at 4, and she said she did not, but also did not know any different.
"I was not forced into anything. Like my mom wasn't like, 'You're gonna do this.' Like, it was not like that, and I was not abused on set or anything like that. Like, I swear to God.
"But, it's true. You don't know what you're getting yourself into as a 4-year-old when, like, you sign a contract to be on a show," the star shared. Newsweek reached out to Aubrey Anderson-Emmons for comment via social media.
File photo: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons attends the opening night of "Life Of Pi" at Ahmanson Theatre on May 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
File photo: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons attends the opening night of "Life Of Pi" at Ahmanson Theatre on May 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Paul Archuleta / Contributor/Getty Images Entertainment
Modern Family, created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, aired from 2009 to 2020. The mockumentary-style series follows the lives of the diverse Tucker-Pritchett-Dunphy clan in suburban Los Angeles, offering a humorous take on familial dynamics.
Anderson-Emmons joined the cast of Modern Family in season three when she was just 4 years old, portraying the adopted daughter of Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker.
Still, being in the public eye from such a young age wasn't always easy. Anderson-Emmons recalled the challenges of receiving criticism for her acting while she was still a child.
"People really took a dig on my acting choices or thought I was a bad actor," she said.
The scrutiny took a toll, especially as she began auditioning again after Modern Family. Having not auditioned regularly as a child, she found herself unprepared for rejection.
As a result, Anderson-Emmons took a break from acting for a few years. It wasn't until she joined her high school's theater program that she rediscovered her love for performing and has resumed auditioning seriously.
Now 17, the actress is opening a new chapter in her life, one that includes a return to acting—and a surprising new venture into music.
Anderson-Emmons has been writing original songs for the past three years and is now preparing to release her debut single, "Telephones and Traffic," on May 23.
"I am grateful for all the Modern Family has given me and all of you wonderful people, and it's time to move on to another chapter of my life," she added.
The reaction online has been overwhelmingly supportive. TikTok users flooded the comments with admiration and nostalgia.
"Bad actor? GIRL YOU ARE THE REASON I STARTED TO WATCH MODERN FAMILY," shared one user.
"A bad actor?? you were fantastic and so funny. I'm literally watching you give Mitch and Cam sass right now," said another.
"I quote ARE WE POOR on the daily. You were AMAZING," posted Brittany.
"My family LOVES Modern Family. We watched it from the start and now it's a comfort show that we all watch regularly. Doesn't matter how many times I watch it I still laugh. You were SO good! I hope you get to do whatever makes you happy," read one comment.
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It's a sticky, boiling hot day in Paris, London, Rome, Athens or any other heatwave-stricken European destination. You flop down in a cafe after a morning spent on your feet. You order a refreshing cold drink. The beverage arrives and it's lukewarm. No ice cubes to be seen. You flag down the server and ask for the same again, this time with ice. It arrives with a solitary, sad-looking ice cube that melts before the first sip. 'So, I started saying, 'Oh, can I get extra ice?' And then they give just two ice cubes…' recalls New Yorker Isabel Tan, who has first-hand experience of Europe's froideur when it comes to adding frozen H20 to liquid refreshment. 'Eventually, I was like, 'Okay, let me just see what they'll do if I just ask for a bucket of ice…' So I asked that, half as a joke. But they brought out a small bucket of ice. I was in Italy, and it was really, really hot… So it kind of worked out.' 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'To own an icebox would be the way to signal to your neighbors that you have arrived, you know, as a middle-class American, who has kind of, quote, unquote, made it financially.' In Europe, ice never gained the same popularity — not in the 19th century and not today. Whereas Americans look upon ice with glee, generally speaking Europeans view ice as unnecessary, and even a little gross. 'I'll order iced drinks during the summer out of necessity,' says Dinhut. 'But I will chug the drink as to not actually let it get watered down and change the flavor.' Ice expert Rees explains that it's true that, 'when you put ice in your drink, it automatically dilutes it.' He says that when it comes to Americans and ice, 'it's as much about what Americans are used to as it is about taste. It's a little crazy. But Americans have loved ice for so long that we're willing to make that sacrifice. We're willing to pay extra in order to have our drinks diluted in particular ways.' 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'I have never had a fridge in the UK with an ice dispenser,' says Buffery. 'We would make squash in a jug as a kid and store it in the fridge for the summer. And we would obviously have an ice tray in the freezer, but you couldn't have much ice as it wasn't easily available.' On social media, Buffery points out free soda refills are commonplace in the US but rare in Europe, suggesting this also plays a part in the ice debate — 'We pay per drink in the UK, and who wants to keep paying for a ton of ice with a little soda?' Still, it intrigues Buffery to reflect on how much her habits have changed over her half decade in the US. She and her husband intend to move back to the UK soon, and when they do, Buffery says she will be hunting down a US-style fridge as soon as possible. Buffery's experiences suggest a lot of the ice-versus-no-ice debate is about what you're used to. While historically, northern European countries were cooler in summer than certain US states, the climate crisis has led to increased summer temperatures in cities like London and Paris. But ice can still be elusive. 'My understanding is to a certain extent it's easier to get ice than it used to be all over Europe, but it is still the exception rather than the rule,' says Rees. In many European destinations, there's no guarantee the establishment where you're dining or drinking will have ice. There isn't, as some TikToks have suggested, an ice shortage in Europe. It's just not the cultural norm. And whereas US hotels typically have ice machines in the corridor, and grocery stores sell giant bags of ice, this isn't generally commonplace outside of North America. 'One of the first things on a list that a host might send a party guest is 'who's bringing the ice?'' says ice historian Brady. 'That's very much an American thing.' Canadian Zoe McCormack — 'not American, but very much the same ice culture,' she says — lives in Paris. She tells CNN Travel she often struggles to track down ice in restaurants in the French city. She says she's less bothered by the iceless drinks in the winter months, but she still hates the lukewarm water, served in tiny 'shot glasses.' 'I don't really drink hot coffee, hot tea and stuff like that. So when they bring lukewarm water, I just find the taste weird,' she says. McCormack also suggests the lack of air conditioning in Europe plays a role — and the generally warmer fridges. When she buys a can of iced tea or soda that's been stored in a European grocery store chiller, 'the drink is not that cold.' When McCormack can, she reaches to the back of the shelf, searching, often in vain, for the coldest can she can find. 'The grocery store is not air conditioned, it's crazy, and you're reaching into the back to try and grab the drinks in the back, because those have probably been there the longest and are the coldest, and sometimes even those aren't that cold. And I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I just need something refreshing.' But it's so hard to find.' If you're an American heading to Europe this summer getting anxious about ice — and possibly a lack of air conditioning and tap water too — rest assured that there are other ways of staying cool in the heat: gelato, sorbet and granita, to name a few. A jug of tinto de verano in Seville will be full of ice, while a glass of rose in Provence will be chilled to perfection. Plus, Europe isn't a monoculture. Every destination will be different. 'I gotta admit, I really like ice, but I understand when I'm traveling that I'm not going to be able to get it in every single place, and sometimes I'm not going to be able to get it at all,' says the historian Rees. He adds: 'But that's all right. I leave the United States specifically so that I can try other people's cuisines, which includes their drinks and they may not have ice in them.' Brady echoes this, suggesting viewing an iceless European beverage as simply a cultural difference, rather than a frustration, and taking it as opportunity for 'self-reflection.' 'Try to resist what might be an immediate reaction, which is, 'Oh, this tepid water, this tepid tea is less good or less clean, or less tasty, less delightful,'' she advises. 'That is a very American, specific perspective. And, putting that aside, also just experiencing how other people around the world develop their own culinary tastes and preferences will make life much more interesting… And it'll just keep you from being a jerk.'

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