Sarah Hyland rose to fame as Haley on Modern Family, which ran from 2009 to 2020.
But while the popular TV show did great things for Hyland’s career, she has alleged that her health wasn’t properly considered during filming.
The actress has been very open over the years about being born with kidney dysplasia, having undergone several kidney transplants, and dealing with the complications of living with a chronic illness, including pain from associated conditions and mental health difficulties including suicidal thoughts.
In a new interview with her Modern Family costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson, on his Dinner on Me podcast, Hyland spoke about dealing with gout while filming the show, and needing to use crutches on set (via BuzzFeed News).
“I was always focused on essentially just surviving and knowing my lines and being there 100 percent when they yelled ‘action’—and then immediately collapsing when they yelled ‘cut,'” Hyland explained (via Us Weekly).
She also said that while she was experiencing “excruciating pain,” the producers were adamant that she wear heels.
“They put me in high heels,” she told Ferguson. “They had not established my outfit yet, and they insisted that I was wearing heels.”
Hyland has previously addressed how dealing with her health condition affected filming Modern Family for her.
“There are some episodes of Modern Family where I do not remember filming because I was asleep,” she said in 2022 (via Yahoo! News). “Dead ass asleep. The episode where Haley asked [Luke for] money and he’s like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got it on ice.’ It’s in the freezer or something. The entire episode I was asleep.”
