‘I Am a Surrogate Baby’: Ed O’Neill’s Daughter Reveals the Truth About Her Birth Mom After Viral TikTok Video
Claire O’Neill, the daughter of “Married…with Children” and “Modern Family” actor Ed O’Neill, has provided details about her birth story after going viral on TikTok.
Last week, Claire shared a video of herself lip-syncing to Tupac “2Pac” Shakur’s “Hit Em Up” when her 78-year-old dad made a shocking cameo in the eight-second video to the surprise of Claire’s followers.
Many TikTok users’ biggest takeaway from the father-daughter social media interaction on March 23, centered around the racial background of Ed’s children.
His daughter set the record straight about her identity in a comment on TikTok, noting her accurate age.
“Okay, let me clear things up for everyone: I’m 18 not 28. I am a surrogate baby (I’m not biologically related to my mom),” Claire revealed on the social networking platform.
She continued, “I am 25% Black because the egg donor is 50%. My dad’s only been married once.”
Ed wed actress Catherine Rusoff in 1986. The couple share a second daughter, Sophia, 26.
A screenshot of Claire’s TikTok comment made its way to Instagram, where people weighed in on her decision to reveal that she was not Catherine’s biological child.
“It’s sad that she felt the need to give all of those personal details. It will just become gossip fodder,” one Instagram user predicted.
Another person wondered, “First of all, she looks nowhere close to 28. Secondly, she’s only 25% Black? Wonder why they used a biracial donor.”
“I’m more confused than I was beforehand,” a third individual admitted.
Ed O’Neill played working-class shoe salesman Al Bundy for eleven seasons on “Married…with Children” from April 1987 to June 1997. His decade-long stint on the Fox sitcom earned him two Golden Globe nominations in 1991 and 1992.
Ed scored even more industry accolades for his portrayal of retired business owner Jay Pritchett on ABC’s “Modern Family” comedy television program.
The main cast of “Modern Family” featured Maryland-raised actress Julie Bowen, 55, starring as Jay Pritchett’s daughter-in-law Claire Dunphy.
Numerous TikTok commenters pointed out that Ed has a real-life daughter named Claire and that his “Modern Family” character has a relative with the same name.
“Jay Pritchett and his real-life daughter Claire???” read one comment. Another user exclaimed, “You’re telling me he really has a child named Claire?!!!!!”
Plus Ed’s older daughter, Sophia, shares a name similar to that of his “Modern Family” co-star Sofía Vergara, who plays Jay’s second wife, Gloria Delgado-Pritchett.
O’Neill’s acting credits also included performances in films such as “Wayne’s World” in 1992, “Wayne’s World 2” in 1993, “The Bone Collector” in 1999, “Wreck-It Ralph” in 2012, and “The Last Shift” in 2024.