While Modern Family alum Eric Stonestreet spent years keeping his struggle with type 2 diabetes a secret, he’s finally speaking out about his health — and how the weight loss medication Mounjaro is helping him to stay fit.
As the 53-year-old actor recently told People, his diabetes diagnosis came in 2009, at the same time he was cast in Modern Family.
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“It was like this crazy happy moment cut with this diagnosis that I truthfully didn’t take very seriously,” he recalled, adding, “I had a doctor that sent me on my way with a couple pills and said, ‘Take care.’ No inspiring moment of ‘You need to seize the day and change this,’ which I guess technically isn’t their responsibility, but I just didn’t do anything about it.”
Stonestreet also grappled with feelings of embarrassment, he explained.
“I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell anybody,” he said. “I knew my mom and dad were both type 2 diabetics and didn’t share it with them. If I was dating a person, I never shared that with them. I didn’t tell my two best friends for a long time.”
It was his father’s painful experience with diabetic neuropathy that finally motivated him, in part, to take control of his health.
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“I just decided, well, I can’t go down that road,” he admitted, going on to say that he was also inspired by his fiancée Lindsay Schweitzer‘s 13-year-old twins.
“They’re her kids but I’ve known them since 3 so they’re my kids as well,” he said. “And just like every parent, I want to be around. So I just decided, I gotta stop this train from going that direction and reverse it a little bit as best I can.”
When Stonestreet’s endocrinologist told him about a “new drug” named Mounjaro, the star was ready and willing to give it a try — and he couldn’t be happier with the results.
“It’s a game changer,” he said. “It has just been incredible. It’s changed my lifestyle, changed my approach to eating, changed my approach to exercise.”
“I kind of was at the same weight for many years, but then in the last year when I started to really contribute more to it, I’ve dropped substantial amount of weight,” Stonestreet added, revealing that he recently walked 4.4 miles through New York City.
“There’s a pep in my step,” he quipped.
