Julie Bowen Praises Adam Sandler as the Ultimate Girl Dad: ‘Warms the Cockles of My Heart’
Adam Sandler is the absolute best girl dad, says actress Julie Bowen.
The Hysteria! star, currently filming Happy Gilmore 2 with Sandler, says that being a husband and dad has changed Sandler for the better.
“Adam makes everybody feel like they’re welcome, and he’s so gracious and lovely,” Bowen tells PEOPLE. “He’s just gotten more, I don’t want to say richer because it sounds like I’m talking about money, but the depth and breadth of him is on full display, and I love it,” says Bowen, 54.
Bowen says Sandler’s wife, Jackie, is also his perfect match.
“He’s always been so down to earth, but Jackie, she is just the most lovely person, and his daughters, Sunny and Sadie… it’s like soup, you know when it’s better the next day? They’ve just made him even better.”
She continues, “It warms the cockles of my heart, seeing him being a dad to girls. Because I’m a boy mom. I’ll hug them and if no one is around they’ll let me, but the rest of the time, they’re like, ‘Noooo.’ So to see [Adam] sitting there with one of the girls cuddling up to him, it’s like magic.”
Of course, Bowen isn’t just a boy mom — she’s also one of the most famous TV moms in recent history, having starred as Claire Dunphy on Modern Family for seven years. Now she’s starring as a mom who may or may not be having hallucinations in the Peacock original Hysteria! (now streaming).
“The jobs that I get offered are usually for moms,” she says.
“So this came along, and it’s kind of horror, kind of pop and it’s about the Satanic panic in the 80s. I read the pilot and at first, was like, ‘I’m okay. I don’t need to do just another mom part.’ And then by the end of the pilot, something’s really wrong, and we don’t know whether she’s possessed by the devil or she’s completely in her head and that this is a crazy person. And I thought, ‘I like that!'”
She teases, “There’s a lot more depth to her than just being a suburban mom. I’m not just screaming at kids. It could be I’m actually going crazy.”