"I was just in extreme pain": Sarah Hyland accuses producers of Modern Family of mental harassment & hostile work conditions

Sarah Hyland, best known for portraying Hayley Dunphy on ABC's Modern Family, became a household name during her 11-season stint on the show. But unknown to the cameras, the actress had a battle of her own against the people she was working for and against the issues that were plaguing her health.

Currently 32 years old, Sarah Hyland began her journey as an 18-year-old actress in the first season of Modern Family, which would also go on to become her defining role. But during the process, Sarah had to battle kidney dysplasia, a condition that has led her to have over 16 surgeries.

She was born with this rare condition that led her to two kidney transplants, one when she was 21 and another 5 years later. Throughout the process, and the physical difficulties, Sarah Hyland continued to work for the show under a condition that could only be defined as "painful."

The actress caused some waves when she first opened up about this on the Quitters podcast. She said:

"When I was on dialysis, I was in rejection, needing a new kidney, and they had taken my dad's one out because it was causing too many issues. I didn't really have any kidney function at all,..There are some episodes of Modern Family where I do not remember filming because I was asleep. Dead-ass asleep,"

But despite her deteriorating health conditions, she revealed on costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast, Dinner’s on Me, that the producers made her wear high heels and push a car on a day she could barely stand up properly due to gout in her foot. She recalled the instance as the "most excruciating pain" she had experienced.

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"I was always focused on essentially just surviving and knowing my lines"- Sarah Hyland on Modern Family's filming process during her illness

While she did open up about her illness and her shooting the show earlier, she dropped some important details on the entire scenario while talking to Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who played her uncle on Modern Family.

Even Jesse recalled one of the days Sarah was going through a health issue. He said:

"I remember a day when we were shooting — I don’t remember the specifics of the scene, and you might not remember it because I think you were in an intense amount of pain that day — but we were pushing a car?"

Sarah Hyland expanded:

"I don’t remember a lot of filming, because I was always focused on essentially just surviving and knowing my lines and being there 100% when they yelled action — and then immediately collapsing when they yelled cut,...I was on dialysis, I had gout. It was wild."

She further added:

"They put me in high heels,...They had not established my outfit yet, and they insisted that I was wearing heels...There are pictures on the internet of me in crutches,...I remember there was a day on set... I think I was in rejection on dialysis, and I was just in an extreme amount of pain."

Despite this hostile treatment and lack of support during the shoot, Sarah Hyland always delivered great performances as the Dunphy family's oldest child and will be remembered in the sitcom world forever.