‘Modern Family’ Star Eric Stonestreet on Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes

In 2009, Eric Stonestreet took on the role that would change his life: the fun and flamboyant stay-at-home dad Cam on “Modern Family.” But Stonestreet’s life changed in more ways than one that year: he was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The Emmy-winning actor told Business Insider that he started taking Mounjaro — a GLP-1 agonist drug similar to Ozempic — in 2022 to treat his diabetes. He is speaking publicly for the first time about having the condition and using Mounjaro, in partnership with its manufacturer, Eli Lilly.

The active ingredient in GLP-1s mimics a hormone of the same name, which the gut produces naturally to help balance blood sugar.

After researchers realized GLP-1s were causing patients to lose significant amounts of weight, largely through appetite suppression, medications such as Wegovy (known as Ozempic for diabetes) and Zepbound (the Mounjaro equivalent) were approved for weight loss in 2023 and have soared in popularity in the years since.

Stonestreet, 53, said the medication changed his life by helping him keep his diabetes under control and motivating him to adopt a healthier lifestyle. He said he wants to raise awareness of type 2 diabetes.

“We have to get people talking about it and take away the stigma,” Stonestreet said.

Stonestreet kept his type 2 diabetes diagnosis a secret for years

Stonestreet said his type 2 diabetes diagnosis was wrapped up in shame about being a bigger person.

He grew up on a farm in Kansas and played lots of sports. He looks back on himself as a slim kid, but didn’t always think that way.

“I’ve never thought of myself as anything other than a fat or overweight kid,” Stonestreet said. “In seventh grade, I was almost six foot, 175 pounds. I was the biggest kid in class. But when I see pictures of myself back then, I’d do anything to have that physique now. So I think in a way, how I viewed myself and how I look sort of manifested itself.”

Stonestreet started putting on weight in his senior year, and stayed a similar size for about 20 years. “​​It’s only in the last 15 years that I felt like I started to put on too much weight,” he said.

After he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Stonestreet was in denial. He “took some simple treatments that the doctor recommended,” but didn’t tell anyone about it.

“I was embarrassed by it, ashamed, just because here I am, this heavy set guy, of course I have type two diabetes, and everybody would just be like, ‘Well, duh,'” he said.

But type 2 diabetes doesn’t only affect people with larger bodies. It’s caused by insulin resistance, and while research suggests that 80 to 85% of the risk is tied to obesity, other factors — including genetics, activity levels, race, and age — also play a role.

“You never know what someone living with type 2 diabetes looks like,” Stonestreet said. “It’s easy to paint with a broad brush in that way.”

Stonestreet decided to open up to his parents about having the disease when his dad was diagnosed with leukaemia. He later died in 2021.

“Seeing my dad’s health fail and my mom have other health issues unrelated to type 2, that got them really talking about their diabetes. And then that got me to admit to them that I had it,” he said.

This Easter, he found out two of his cousins have type 2 diabetes, too. “Never knew that in my life,” he said.

Stonestreet said he and his cousins feeling comfortable to open up about having type 2 diabetes is what he hopes his campaign will achieve on a wider scale.

Stonestreet said taking Mounjaro inspired him to change his lifestyle

Stonestreet had tried other treatments for diabetes, but nothing had as profound an effect as Mounjaro, he said.

“My doctor at the time was very excited about it coming out; he told me, ‘Eric, when this drug hits the market, you’re going to be one of the first people on it. It’s going to be great for you.’ And it has been,” he said. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for diabetes in 2022.

Mounjaro is injected weekly, and Stonestreet built up to the highest dose. It has helped him lower his A1C (average blood sugar levels) to pre-diabetic numbers, he said.

The medication’s efficacy inspired him to work on his overall lifestyle, and he started moving for 150 minutes a week, mostly by walking. Patients on Mounjaro and other GLP-1s are advised to eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly.

“It’s been crazy. The numbers don’t lie, and it’s just been slowly ticking down,” Stonestreet said, referring to his A1C. “Once I really started focusing on diet and exercise to go along with Mounjaro, my A1C just fell off a cliff. It’s remarkable.”

He added: “All of a sudden, I felt like I needed to be accountable to it, because it’s showing up every day to do something for me.”

By changing his outlook on his lifestyle, the medication has been a “life-changer,” he said.

“Those doctors at Lilly, scientists, researchers, they did all the work to create it. And so I’m not going to just spit in its face and all their faces by not doing at least my part to make the drug as effective as it can,” Stonestreet said.

In studies, patients have lost up to 20% of their bodyweight on Mounjaro, but that was never Stonestreet’s focus, and he lost a few pounds when he started on it.

He also said he didn’t experience common side effects of the drug, such as nausea and constipation. GLP-1 drugs are considered a long-term treatment, and some patients have found the side effects too challenging to continue.

Stonestreet views monitoring his glucose levels like a game

Stonestreet uses a continuous glucose monitor to track his blood sugar levels and treats it like a game.

“I’m logging information constantly, and it’s turned into something I’m addicted to,” he said. “Making sure my blood sugar is always where it needs to be.”

He watches what he eats but allows himself to “mess up every once in a while.”

Ultimately, Stonestreet thinks it’s important to have realistic expectations in life.

“If I had moved to Los Angeles to be a lifeguard on ‘Baywatch’, I would’ve had a very unfulfilled career,” he said. “Could I have been a sunburn victim on ‘Baywatch’? Sure. On the beach, visiting from Kansas? Completely realistic.”

He added: “So I think if I can give people advice — and it’s not always easy to take advice from somebody that’s doing it — but it’s just set yourself realistic expectations. Don’t say, ‘Man, I’m going to run a marathon’, or ‘I’m never going to have a piece of candy again in my life’. Just bit by bit, piece by piece.”