'Married … With Children' had an 11-season run from 1987 to 1997.
Ed O’Neill is opening up about the origins of his strained relationship with his Married… With Children co-star, Amanda Bearse, during an episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast on Tuesday.
O’Neill, who became a household name playing Al Bundy on the beloved series, disclosed that their conflict stemmed from his failure to defend Bearse when she was excluded from the cast’s TV Guide cover shoot.
"I did a thing on the show that involved Amanda Bearse that I regretted," O’Neill admitted during the podcast.
Reflecting on their relationship, O’Neill acknowledged that they were initially great friends, but tensions arose when the cast secured the cover of TV Guide.
O’Neill, now 77, explained that Bearse, who portrayed Marcy D’Arcy, and David Garrison, who played Steve Rhoades, were left out of the cover because, according to O’Neill, they were the neighbors on the show.
"They had a rule: only so many could be on the cover," O’Neill revealed, adding that exceptions were made for other shows like MASH and Dallas.
Despite Bearse’s desire for O’Neill to advocate for her and the other excluded co-stars, he chose to remain silent out of fear that the entire cast might lose the coveted cover.
"We were lucky to get it. It was like the sixth year in or something, and we were thrilled to get the cover of TV Guide. It was big. And Amanda and David came out in unison from their dressing room," O’Neill recounted, noting Bearse’s request for him to address the issue with co-creator Ron Leavitt. She wanted all of them to be featured on the cover.
Expressing regret for not standing up for his fellow cast members, O’Neill admitted that he would handle the situation differently if given a second chance. In 1989, O’Neill ultimately posed for the TV Guide cover alongside his co-stars Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate and David Faustino.
Married … With Children enjoyed an 11-season run from 1987 to 1997.
RELATED CONTENT:
