Jesse Tyler Ferguson Was Expecting a Baby in Real Life While Mitchell Was Expanding His Family on Modern Family

Jesse Tyler Ferguson was expecting a baby in real life at the same time Mitchell Pritchett was growing his family on Modern Family. As the show wrapped up its eleventh and final season, Ferguson’s life off screen was mirroring his character’s story in a very sweet way.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Baby Announcement

In January 2020, Ferguson appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and revealed that he and his husband, Justin Mikita, were expecting their first child, due that summer. When Corden asked if it was a boy or a girl, Ferguson joked: “A human.” The couple welcomed their son, Beckett Mercer, in July 2020, and later had a second son, Sullivan Louis, in 2022, both via surrogate.

Mitchell and Cameron’s Baby on Modern Family

At the same time, Mitchell and Cameron spent the final season thinking about adding to their family. They already had their daughter Lily, whom they adopted in the very first episode, and in the series finale, which aired in April 2020, the couple welcomed a new adopted baby boy. They named him Rexford, after the street they lived on.

The finale ended with Mitch, Cam, Lily and baby Rexford preparing to move to Missouri after Cam landed a college football coaching job, giving the couple a brand-new chapter as a family of four.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Life After Modern Family

Rexford arrived on screen just a few months before Beckett was born, so Ferguson went from playing a new dad to becoming one for real. He has since spoken often about fatherhood and his two boys, and he hosts the podcast Dinner’s on Me. For fans who watched Mitchell grow from a nervous new parent in season 1 to a dad of two, it is a lovely real-life parallel.