It’s certainly no secret in Hollywood that child actors don’t always bear the brunt of an early career in the most positive ways, and many out there would probably like to be able to go back in time and deliver a key piece of life advice to their younger selves that would put their lives back on track. Thankfully, Modern Family vet Sarah Hyland seemingly never strayed down the same paths that have led to others’ downfalls, from substance abuse to mismanaged finances, and she’s currently living an adorable existence with hubby and Bachelor In Paradise mainstay Wells Adams, having married her “perfect person” back in August 2022. But there is still a bit of advice she’d go back and give her younger self.
Sarah Hyland was present for Tic Tac’s launch of its newest flavor, Strawberries and Cream, and shared her thoughts with EOnline about the guidance she’d like to communicate to the version of herself whose life was about to change forever thanks to Modern Family’s massive success from the very start. In her words:
Don't be too hard on yourself. Love the people around you, but love you more.
Honestly, that’s just good advice for anyone at any point, whether it’s about a job, a family, putting together an aquarium, writing the Great American Novel, or any other point of reference. So often we hold on to immediate regrets while second-guessing ourselves, as opposed to just taking life’s lumps as easily as taking the wins.
In a similar vein, being a model employee often involves trying to please others far more regularly than making sure we keep our own happiness in the running. While this complaint didn’t come early on, Sarah Hyland did express disappointment as Modern Family was concluding over her character Haley’s story faltering near the end due to her pregnancy and young motherhood spurring only surface-level storytelling.
Judging by how fast the actress changed up her hair after production wrapped, Hyland was possibly ready for all kinds of changes. She followed Modern Family up with a hosting gig for a Play-Doh competition, which went from one-off special to a full season, and also co-led the cast of the Pitch Perfect spinoff series Bumper in Berlin. She also filmed a pilot for a fantastical fairy tale drama titled Epic, but that project failed to move forward at ABC.
Not that being kind to herself was the only advice Sarah Hyland wanted to go back and give her younger self. While that first bit of direction was mental and emotional, this next bit is all about the physical. Here’s what else the Wedding Year star had to say:
Continue dancing because you love dancing. Get back to ballet, and get back to jazz, and flamenco, and ballroom, and all of that. Get back to that world, because you desperately miss it in your 30s and now you don't have the muscles to perform it anymore.
Also pretty good advice for just about anyone, though they'd have to be under a certain age. Who among us wouldn't love to retcon reality in order to make ourselves more fit, active and talented in our labors and hobbies? I've never been a skilled dancer, but if I had the chance to go back and tell my 20-year-old self to get started so that I could try to avoid being an uncoordinated schmuck later in life, I'd at least send myself a mostly legible note.
As we wait to see where Sarah Hyland's career takes her next, we can probably feel comfortable with the notion that she's not angling hard to be on Dancing with the Stars' next season, and nor that another Dirty Dancing sequel is her passion project.
