Ed O’Neill reveals real cause of feud with co-star Amanda Bearse

Ed O’Neill opened up about the real reason behind his feud with this Married … With Children co-star Amanda Bearse.

O’Neill appeared on Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast on Tuesday, and reflected on what may have caused the bitter rift.

“I did a thing on the show that involved Amanda Bearse that I regretted,” he explained.

“We didn’t get along, but we did for a long time. We were great friends. And I could guess, I don’t want to speak for her, but it started when we got the cover of TV Guide.”

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Bearse, who played Marcy D’Arcy, and David Garrison, who Steve Rhoades, were omitted from the cover because they “were the neighbours” on the show.

O’Neill, 77, said that rift would have started because he didn’t stand up for Bearse and their other co-stars when they were excluded from the cast’s cover shoot.

Because they had a rule: only so many could be on the cover,” he said.

“Now they violated that for like two shows, I think it was MASH and Dallas,” he continued. “That was an exception, they weren’t doing it for us.”

The actor said that he was afraid to lose “big” opportunity all together as they were “lucky to get it” in the “sixth year in or something, and we were thrilled to get the cover of TV Guide.”

“We were on the soundstage, and she said, ‘We expect you to go to [co-creator] Ron Leavitt and tell him this doesn’t work. We’re all on the cover.'”

He regrets not helping his castmates and would change the way he handled things if he could go back in time.