Julie Bowen talks TV ban

Julie Bowen's TV ban didn't make her any more creative.

The blonde actress stars in the hugely successful sitcom Modern Family. But despite being in an Emmy award-winning show, the 44-year-old has not had a television in her bedroom for more than a decade, after what initially began as an experiment.

"I wanted to see what I’d do with those hours that would otherwise be spent watching TV," she revealed to British newspaper The Independent. "Of course I didn’t do much. I didn’t write a novel, I didn’t compose poetry.”

While her TV ban was all well and good when she was a single woman, when she met her husband Scott, she had to concede to his demand for a small screen somewhere in their abode. The couple married in 2004, and now have multiple boxes in the house.

“He thought my refusal to have a TV was ridiculous. When we moved in together, I surrendered and we got a TV and now we have tons," she despaired. "But I said, ‘Not in the bedroom!’ And that’s the one room I have won.”

The couple have three children, Oliver, seven, and five-year-old twins John and Gustav. She admits her sons have never watched Modern Family, and while they go to school with other famous people's offspring, they don't get the same kind of attention.

"If I was raising my kids in Oklahoma, I would be a big, huge star but, in LA, I’m just this B-level TV person," she said. "They go to school with Gwen Stefani’s kids and Dave Grohl’s kids and, let me tell you, no-one gives a rat’s ass about my kids when those kids are around.”