Julie Bowen Has a ‘Smart and Funny’ New Boyfriend — but She’s Keeping His Identity a Secret for Now (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Julie Bowen revealed she has a new boyfriend while chatting with PEOPLE at Step Up’s 2026 Annual Inspiration Awards in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 25

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• She is keeping his identity a secret for now

• The Modern Family actress described her boyfriend as “smart and funny”

Julie Bowen has a new man in her life.

While stepping out to Step Up’s 2026 Annual Inspiration Awards in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 25, the Modern Family actress, 56, revealed exclusively to PEOPLE that she has a new boyfriend.

“I have a lovely friend,” Bowen said, though she is keeping his identity secret for now.

She described her boyfriend as “smart and funny,” saying, “I need smart and funny. Those are the two [characteristics I look for in a partner].”

“I don’t care what people look like — though he happens to be good-looking,” she added. “But I don’t care what people look like. I like the brains.”

Bowen was previously married to Scott Phillips. The pair, who wed in September 2004, separated after 13 years of marriage. They finalized their divorce in September 2018. Bowen and Phillips, a real estate investor, share three sons: Oliver, 19, and 17-year-old twins Gustave and John.

Bowen told PEOPLE at Friday’s Step Up event that her house is “30% more quiet” now that her eldest son is away at college. She said parenting three teenage boys “is a lot,” joking, “I was going to a basketball game at 9 p.m., and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ “

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When Bowen dropped Oliver off for his freshman year of college last year, she shared an emotional Instagram post about the bittersweet parenting milestone. Alongside a photo of herself hugging Oliver, the Happy Gilmore star wrote, “Sweet Baby Oliver…you were born 5 minutes ago, so how can I possibly be leaving you at college?”

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She continued, “You made me a mother, and I learned more (and been humbled more) from being your mom for the past 18 years than I could ever have imagined. Now I have to learn to do the hardest thing a parent has the privilege of doing and let you go.”

“No, it’s NOT forever, but it’s the end of one big chapter, so – yeah – I’m going to cry,” she added.

Bowen previously opened up to PEOPLE about her motherhood experience at the 2025 Baby2Baby Gala in November. Sharing the biggest lesson she’s learned from raising her three sons, she said at the time, “Believe in them.”

She went on to explain, “I like to micromanage and check everything, and that’s not good for the relationships. It’s good to remind them that no matter what, no matter how many things they’ve effed up on that week, that month, that year, that they’re doing more right than wrong. And that is something I’ve really learned — ‘You’re doing more right than wrong.’ “

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