Eric Stonestreet shared his happy news with fans and followers on Instagram Sunday: He and his longtime girlfriend, Lindsay Schweitzer, are getting married.
Accompanying that announcement were three sweet photos of the “Modern Family” actor and his fiancée side by side. And the replies to that post were filled with goodwill and compliments.
At least most of them were.
As it turned out, in between the “yays” and “mazel tovs” (and at least one “F--- YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!” — from Stonestreet’s “Modern Family” co-star Ariel Winter), were some unexpected and unkind comments from those who felt the groom-to-be looked more like the father of the bride.
To those critics, Stonestreet has issued a hilarious response.
In a heavily-edited set of do-over pics he shared to his Instagram Wednesday night, it’s Stonestreet who suddenly appears to be the more youthful half of the duo.
“Apparently a lot of people think I look too old, as a 49 year old man, to be engaged to my almost 42 year old fiancé,” he wrote in the caption. “Look, she can’t help that she looks so great at 42 and I can’t help that I apparently look like her grandad so, I fixed it for everyone.”
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Winter chimed in again in the replies, this time joking that her pal’s fiancée has “gilf vibes.” And “Modern Family” executive producer Danny Zuker looked at the suddenly aged Schweitzer and wrote, “You always do this to both your fictional and actual spouses!”
But Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who can speak on behalf of Stonestreet’s fictional spouses, noted that he was surprised to see “Modern Family” fans calling anyone out over seeming too old or too young for their partners.
“I assume these are the same people who love Jay & Gloria’s relationship,” he said of the ensemble’s patriarch, played by 75-year-old Ed O’Neill, and his wife, played by 49-year-old Sofia Vergara. Then, leaning into the joke, he added, “Which is where YOU got the idea of having a younger spouse, right?”