How Eric Stonestreet spends his 5 to 9 — from cooking outdoors to unwinding with 'Wheel of Fortune.'
At 53, Eric Stonestreet has been around long enough to know that life throws you curveballs.
Some of the biggest jolts came in 2009 when he was cast as Cam Tucker on " Modern Family" and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Stonestreet spoke to Business Insider in partnership with Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the GLP-1 drug Mounjaro, which he uses to treat his diabetes.
Big life changes are often accompanied by smaller but no less significant ones: going from a night owl at college to an early riser when shooting "Modern Family," and realizing his parents were onto something watching "Wheel of Fortune" religiously after dinner.
That's how he, his fiancée Lindsay Schweitzer, and his 13-year-old twin step-sons wind down in the evenings, he tells me on a Zoom call from his home in Kansas.
The transition Stonestreet seems most excited about? His new home that will enable him to grill marinated meats and veggies in an outdoor kitchen again.
"I've kind of been deprived of my grilling in the last few years, but that's about to change when our house is done," he says like a true Kansan.
He may have moved from the state to LA and back over the years, but some things never change.
In BI's latest installment of "5-9," Stonestreet shared how else he spends the hours he's not working.
What time do you get up most days, and what does your morning routine look like?
Usually I'm up by 8 a.m. Tomorrow is going to be an early start because I'm shooting "Dexter" — I haven't got my call time yet, but it's going to be early, I fear.
When we were on "Modern Family," I looked forward to getting up early, getting to work, and beating traffic. I was up at the crack of dawn for 11 years. It became a game. I preferred to get to work early and nap in my trailer rather than sit in traffic for an hour and a half. Often we'd be shooting at 7.45 a.m.
My mornings have changed a lot over the years. People used to make fun of me in college because I loved sleeping in. If I had a class before 10 a.m., I would usually drop it because I never made it to campus in time.
Do you have a go-to breakfast?
I love breakfast. Breakfast out is one of my favorite things. I'm a savory guy more than sweet, but I do love pancakes. Pancakes are one of my Achilles' heels when it comes to things that you should definitely have in moderation.
I love oatmeal. When I was a kid, my mom always had cream of wheat. I never could understand why she liked that, but as I've gotten older, I love it too. I love a parfait. I like scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, maybe one piece of toast.
Delicious. Do you eat before you go to set?
If I'm on set, they always know to have a couple of scrambled eggs, a couple pieces of bacon, one piece of toast, and a coffee or water for me. I was never really a coffee drinker until "Modern Family." And then I realized, "Oh, I need this." I don't crave coffee every morning. I'll have it because it's there, and that's what people are drinking to stay alive and stay awake.
I was a big diet soda drinker. I've cut down a lot, but I do have one Diet Coke a day, and I love seltzer water.
Treating cooking like an art form
I know you try to fit in 150 minutes of movement each week. What does that look like for you?
I take a couple of laps around the hood. At the moment, we're building a house not far from our house, so it'll just be walking there, walking around the property, and doing what I can.
We have some exercise equipment in our basement that Lindsay, my fiancée, uses more than I do. But I have my own program and, every once in a while, I'll get inspired to go down there and pull and push some weight around.
What do you have for dinner, and who cooks it?
Well, Lindsay's a baker. And I love to cook. I love to grill.
I've kind of been deprived of my grilling in the last few years, but that's about to change when our house is done. I had a great outdoor kitchen at my house in Los Angeles, and I'm not there as much as I used to be.
I really enjoy marinating meats and grilling vegetables. My favorite thing is to grill asparagus, zucchini, carrots, and onions with good seasoning. I love a piece of steak, but I also love chicken, sausages, and all that stuff on the grill.
I like making one-pot meals — in Kansas City, it gets cold. You're in England, so I guess you know?
I do know. It's surprisingly not cold today, though.
You know how nothing sounds better than a Sunday roast on a cold day? Right. Well, that's how it is in Kansas City. So I love making jambalaya or chili. Everybody loves my chili. I love making baked beans on toast, too. Does that sound familiar?
Yeah! I love it.
Beans on toast with a little cheese. That's delicious. I just introduced the boys to that not long ago. They couldn't believe that that was a proper English meal. And bangers and tomatoes and mushrooms for breakfast. They were like, "We're eating real English food."
I wouldn't say I do most of the cooking, but well, I would say I do most of the cooking.
Brilliant. Does that mean you don't have to do the washing up?
Yes, it does mean that, which sometimes I feel bad about because I make a mess. The other day, Lindsay said, "Can you use salt and not end up with it everywhere? It's like it snowed in the kitchen." And that's a fair point. But cooking is an art, baking is a science, and I'm an artist, salt, whatever.
Meditating his own way
You can't question art. Do you have any particular relaxation techniques? Are you into saunas or massages, or anything like that?
When Lindsay and I first got together, I booked us a couple's massage at the Four Seasons in Maui. We were there to shoot an episode of "Modern Family" and we were just getting to know each other. We're in the room together, and the masseuse asked us, "How hard do you like it?" And Lindsay said, "Oh, please get in there. I can take elbows and everything else".
And I said, "Just a little bit more than a tickle." She's never let me forget that. I've never felt super comfortable getting massages, but I've gotten better, and it always surprises me how great I feel afterward.
I do love a Swedish spa, going between the hot and the cold. In Los Angeles, I go between the hot tub and the pool with the boys; it's so refreshing and relaxing.
I've never done yoga. Everybody who knows me says I'm a perfect candidate for yoga, but I don't know if I have the attention span. I don't like being in the movie theater during the day because I'm worried about what I'm missing outside. I can imagine being in a yoga studio during the day, wondering what's going on outside.
I get what you mean.
I'm also my own sort of meditator. I've certainly never been taught to meditate, but I think I do my own version at different times of the day.
Prioritizing sleep
How do you like to spend your evening, and how do you wind down for bed?
It's changed. I used to think it was funny that my parents watched "Wheel of Fortune" after dinner every night. And wow, here we are doing the same thing. So we have dinner, we usually watch "Wheel of Fortune," and then the boys go off and do their homework, dance classes, football, or whatever it is.
We usually go to bed by 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m. I was a night owl as a kid, but "Modern Family" turned me into an early-to-bed guy because I was an early-to-rise guy, and I've kind of stuck with that. So anything past 11 p.m., and I'm yawning.
Very sensible.
Sounds very exciting, doesn't it?
It sounds healthy.
Well, that's one thing I can say that I'm very good at as far as health is concerned. You can't underestimate the importance of getting proper sleep, and I get my fair share when I need it.
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