Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson Recalls Meeting 'Perfectly Lovely' Chelsea Clinton: 'We Just Hang Out'

Jesse Tyler Ferguson reflected on his unexpected friendship with Chelsea Clinton, calling the former first daughter “perfectly lovely” while dishing on their friendship.

“I met Chelsea because she sees a lot of theater,” the Modern Family actor, 50, explained during the Tuesday, November 4, episode of his “Dinner’s on Me” podcast. “And so she's a big supporter of the public theater. And I met her at a gala for the public theater, and she had seen me and I've done seven Shakespeare in the parks now.”

Ferguson recalled that Clinton, 45, was in the audience of several of the shows and asked to meet him.

“I went over and said, ‘Hello.’ She's perfectly lovely. We had a very nice chat,” he explained. “And then like, I dunno, a year later we were at a wedding together and her husband Mark is also just the coolest, sweetest guy.”

The actor explained that he ended up spending the “whole evening” with the couple, adding, “Now we’re like theater buddies, we just hang out. Like she’s lovely.”

Jesse also touched on meeting Chelsea’s father, Bill Clinton, and being inspired by the former president’s conversation skills.

“We talked about that one Hollywood connective tissue that we shared together,” he explained. “And then from there it expanded upon other conversations, but like he knows how to. You know, start conversations with people. He is, he is a great conversationalist. And I mean, I wish I had that skill.”

Jesse rose to fame via his role on ABC’s Modern Family, which ran for 11 seasons from 2009 to 2020. The five-time Emmy nominee admitted he felt considerable pressure playing Mitchell Pritchett, saying he carried a responsibility to the LGBTQ+ community to “get it right” in his portrayal of the gay lawyer.

“I was in the trenches fighting for marriage equality, and I felt so lucky to be part of a pop culture touchstone that was also part of that same issue,” he spilled on his "Dinner’s on Me" podcast in April. “It was tricky for me because I had to tune out that noise of a community wanting me to do it correctly and preciously and, you know, my desire to do it with nuance and levels and layers and also poignancy. I just felt like there was no way to please both camps.”

Modern Family offered a fresh look at family dynamics, as Jesse’s character and his partner (Eric Stonestreet) raised their adopted daughter, played by Frances Anderson.

“I felt a responsibility from the community when I was given a role like the one I had on Modern Family to get it right and to do it with care and precision," he explained. "I’m [now] in a place where I’m, as an actor, being given a role where I’m attracted to the messiness of that character. I’m attracted to their flaws. Like, that’s what makes it interesting. And, honestly, that’s what makes the audience interested in watching me.”