For 10 years we’ve been falling in love with the complexities of Modern Family that so many viewers can relate to. With an overbearing family who all live minutes from each other, the Pritchetts, Delgados, and Dunphys are always within arms-distance of one another. While each household has its own head of the family, the patriarch of them all is Jay.
As the father of Mitchell and Claire (and later Manny and Joey), Jay’s nuclear family is the heart of the show. The fact that all three of them married insanely humorous partners is just a bonus. As the oldest and wisest of the group, Jay has a short temper but tries to relay good advice when he calms down. Even if his relationship with Gloria may have people scratching their heads, they make all the sense in the world when you get to know them.
Hidden beneath Jay’s thick skin is a lovable man and a whole lot of mistakes. Check out 10 of his biggest below!
TELLING MANNY TO GIVE GLORIA SPACE WHEN HE WENT TO COLLEGE
In the ninth season, we see Manny finally head off to college. It’s been a long ride for viewers who have seen sweet Manny grow up to a young man.
Knowing how close he and his mother Gloria are, everyone knew Manny’s first year away was going to be hard. However, everything came to a head at Gloria and Jay’s 10th wedding anniversary. Gloria missed Manny and was upset that she couldn’t fit in her wedding gown anymore.
Where was Manny anyway? As it turns out, Jay told Manny not to come to their celebration because they all needed some space to adapt to their new lives. However, he never told Gloria that. She simply thought Manny didn’t want to come, which made her entire day worse.
TELLING HIS GOLFING BUDDIES CAMERON WAS MITCHELL’S FRIEND
Jay wasn’t totally on board with same-sex couples until Mitchell and Cameron finally got married. He wasn’t against it, of course. After all, Mitchell was with a loving companion and was in the happiest relationship he’s ever been in. But it’s the public affection that Jay wasn’t comfortable with.
Mitchell dealt with his father’s downfalls for a long time until he heard that Jay told his golfing buddies that Cameron was his son’s “friend,” not his boyfriend. We know Jay is a proud man and cares what his friends at the club think of him but to disrespect both Mitchell and Cameron like that was the lowest of the low.
TRYING TO BREAK PHIL & CLAIRE UP
When Claire and Jay went away to a closet convention, Claire learned a lot more than just closet jargon. After seeing her dad canoodling with another closet professional, she assumed they were having an affair. Jay denied everything and instead told her the truth. As it turns out, the woman Claire saw him with was a friend who offered Phil a job in Texas early on in their relationship. But it wasn’t a coincidence.
Jay despised Phil so much that he and this woman worked up a deal to break them up. Considering Phil is the best husband and father ever, Claire was obviously disgusted with her father.
HE GOT JOE EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL
In another great Thanksgiving episode, Jay accidentally got Joe expelled from school. Considering Joe was in preschool or kindergarten at the time, Jay’s accomplishment is pretty shocking. In typical Jay fashion, he decided to hide the bad news from Gloria until he figured out a gameplan, but as always, his plan bit him in the behind.
After talking to Joe’s teacher about what food the kids were going to eat at Thanksgiving, Jay had a problem with the food being served because it wasn’t traditional Thanksgiving food. Instead, it was a modern-day meal with a Thanksgiving twist to accommodate all the students. We know Jay’s an old-fashioned kind of guy but to get your kid expelled over food? Really, Jay?
HE WAS GIVEN A RESTRAINING ORDER FROM TERRY BRADSHAW
It’s not every day we see Jay fangirl over another person. As the king of closets, Jay even refers to himself as a minor celebrity. However, after being called into jury duty, he realizes his football idol Terry Bradshaw was also on the juror’s stand.
The two hit it off at first…and then Jay brought up one of Bradshaw’s worst movies and insulted him instantly. Bradshaw left Jay sitting alone in the cafeteria and even filed a restraining order against him for being too aggressive.
WHEN HE TOLD CLAIRE HE WASN’T HANDING THE BUSINESS OVER TO HER
In the episode “White Christmas,” Gloria decides she wants a white Christmas in a snow-covered cabin. What she didn’t anticipate was the humid, sunny weather but that’s for another time. With the entire family under one roof for a couple of days, Jay decides to announce his retirement.
Claire is easily the most obvious choice to take her father’s position but he decides to prank her and say he’s handing the company over to someone else instead. This news totally upset Claire and rehashed old issues that never would have been brought up had it not been for Jay’s dumb prank. He eventually tells Claire the job is hers but he took it too far.
HE FIRED MANNY’S SPANISH TUTOR
Jay isn’t typically the jealous type. He’s pretty comfortable in his manhood and trusts his stunning wife, Gloria. However, when Gloria hires a charming Spanish tutor for Manny, Jay begins to feel left out. What if Gloria plans a new life with this gorgeous, Spanish-speaking man?
Instead of talking it over with Gloria, he fires the tutor and signs Manny up for French class instead. This upset Gloria tremendously because all she ever wanted was to speak Spanish with someone under her own roof.
STAYING IN SAN DIEGO FOR A NIGHT TO HIDE FROM HIS PREGNANT WIFE
We’ve heard it time and time again: Gloria is out of Jay’s league. She’s almost 30 years younger than Jay and she’s out-of-this-world beautiful. When he got her pregnant, the couple was thrilled to have another shot at their own family. But it appears Jay forgot how good he had it because once Gloria got bigger during her pregnancy, Jay got more uncomfortable.
After a long night of Gloria snoring and hogging the bed, Jay had enough. He lied to her about needing to spend a night in San Diego for business and hit the road. However, Gloria knows her husband. She found Jay and set him straight, reminding him how lucky he is to have her.
HIS DISRESPECT OVER COLUMBIAN TRADITIONS
From Gloria’s Columbian recipes and her New Year’s Eve traditions to superstitions that run deep in her family, Jay gets annoyed at the slightest mention of Columbia. It’s not like he’s not proud of her heritage or where she came from, but he’s a diehard American who doesn’t always understand why Gloria does the things that she does.
However, Jay’s attitude towards Gloria’s heritage upsets her more than once throughout the 10 seasons. We all know he wanted her to become an American citizen but it’s almost like he wants her to forget Columbia in the process, which is upsetting for Gloria.
HIS BOTCHED BOTOX
In the later seasons, we see that Jay stops trying to look nice and admits defeat to being old. Gloria, however, is not having any of it. She loves it when Jay looks nice in a suit. But this wasn’t the first time Jay tried messing around with his appearance. If you can remember back to season two, Jay decides to mess around with Botox.
After the cosmetic enhancement goes wrong, Jay has a bad reaction and the side of his face goes numb. He denied the fact that he tried Botox for as long as he could until the truth eventually came out and we all saw that Jay Pritchett has both insecurities and vulnerability.
