Believe it or not, there was a time when Gloria didn’t feel accepted by her new family. Although Claire Dunphy and the other characters on this comedy series assure her it’s all in her head, one name from Luke reaffirms her doubts.
What is a “coal digger?” What happened between Claire Dunphy and Gloria Pritchett during the first season of Modern Family? Here’s what we know about these characters and their rocky relationship.
Gloria is Jay Pritchett’s second wife
This cast is one big modern family. There’s a couple in the LGBTQ community, there’s a crazy grandmother, and there’s even two immigrants who join the family through marriage.
Gloria and Manny are two of the main characters who appear throughout this series. Gloria, a former taxi cab driver marries closet company owner, Jay Pritchett, and moves into his house with her son, Manny. Manny is in the same grade as one of Jay’s grandkids, named Luke.
Although the two love each other, Gloria wasn’t always accepted by some members of the Dunphy-Pritchett clan. That includes Claire Dunphy, the daughter of Jay, who called Gloria a “coal digger” once, according to Luke.
At 1 party, Luke says his his mom called Gloria a ‘Coal Digger’
When the boys were much younger, Luke and Manny got into an argument at school, which resulted in some pretty mean name calling. Manny even called Luke his nephew, even though Luke doesn’t like being called that.
Even though their argument ended with Jay, the two continued to share some names shared by other members of the family. Luke shared that sometimes people make fun of his mom’s accent. Then, he said that his mom called Gloria a coal digger. A few of the other kids didn’t know what that meant, but it was something that Luke misheard.
Claire didn’t call Gloria a coal digger, like Luke thought. It turns out, she actually called Gloria a “gold digger.” It was a natural reaction, Claire explained, to someone so young and beautiful marrying her father.
After a colorful display to Phil in her bedroom, Gloria proved to Claire that she really loved her father and her family. After Claire jumped in the pool, she proved that she was truly sorry for saying something like that behind her back.
The two women have been close ever since. They went on a hike with their children for mother’s day, they celebrated almost every holiday together, and they even are around the same age. (Although Jay is quick to point out that Claire is older.)
Some episodes of Modern Family are available for streaming on Hulu. Other projects featuring the cast members, including Sofia the First starring Ariel Winter and Finding Dory, are available for streaming on Disney+. To learn more about these subscription services, visit their respective websites.
In the fifth episode of Season 1 of Modern Family, Manny mentions that Luke keeps referring to Gloria as a "coal digger", Phil corrects him, saying that what he means is "gold digger". Later, Luke explains that he heard this term from his mom Claire, who uses it to refer to Gloria.
The phrase "coal digger" is a derogatory term used to refer to someone who is of low social status. Most likely, the term was originally used to describe someone who worked in manual labor jobs such as coal mining, but it can now be used to describe anyone who is considered to be socially inferior.
The 25-year gap caused persistent problems, especially within the Dunphy family itself. And yet, despite this, Jay and Gloria's marriage remains one of the more consistently stable relationships in Modern Family despite this large age gap.
They rarely kissed and viewers can count on one hand the number of times Gloria complimented Jay. Gloria and Jay had their believable moments but they didn't have as much onscreen chemistry as Phil and Claire.
Gloria is Phil's step-mother-in-law. He has a small and harmless crush on her, once staring at Gloria through Claire's sunglasses. Gloria is seemingly oblivious to this. Jay says nothing of it because Phil is married to his daughter and therefore knows not to cross the line.
Claire often called Gloria a gold digger for marrying her wealthy father, but Gloria proved time and time again she was with Jay because she loved him, not because of his money.
Sarah Hyland was 19 when she began her role as Haley on Modern Family. However, her character was only 16 in the first season and later celebrated her 21st birthday in Season 6, making the age gap between her and her character one of the most significant in the series.
Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), née Pritchett, is the wife of Phil Dunphy, the daughter of Jay, Mitchell's older sister, Gloria's stepdaughter, Manny's stepsister, Joe's half sister, and the helicopter soccer mom of the Dunphy family and its three very different kids.
Claire often called Gloria a gold digger for marrying her wealthy father, but Gloria proved time and time again she was with Jay because she loved him, not because of his money.
And it was worth the wait. The show wasn't about "the kiss" but rather about Mitchell's discomfort with public displays of affection—which stems from Jay's uneasiness with expressing emotion—and gratitude and love in general.
Gloria. Javier was formerly married to Gloria before the show began. Their marriage to somehow seemed to be an imploding one as Gloria commented that all they did was "fight and make love". Gloria is also very appalled by Javier's actions, especially since he took Manny to a stripper club when he was six.
In the beginning, it became obvious to the viewer that Phil had a crush on her and would take any opportunity to hug or touch her. Gloria has expressed that she cares about Phil when she says she hates to disappoint him. Over time, Phil's crush has dissipated, and the pair have become close friends.
Gloria tries to "win back" her mom, and she ends up fighting with Claire who also admits that she is jealous of her because her mom comes all the way from Colombia just to spend the holidays with her when her mom does not even take the bus (three hours away) for her and she instead sends her a pair of slippers as a ...
But Luke has the plastic covering on and Phil tells him to go "Hurt Locker" on them. The sprinklers are off, everybody gets organized, and Phil insists on telling Claire the truth right now. He admits Gloria kissed him.
Out of nowhere, Lily says the "f-word", causing Cam to giggle (his weakness is children cursing) and leave the room. Mitch and Cam try to tell her that she shouldn't say that word, however, Cam keeps laughing every time she says it, which undermines the point. At the debate, things do not go really well for Claire.
The toddler was played for the past two seasons by Pierce Wallace, but ABC recast the role with Jeremy Maguire. According to TVLine, Jeremy turns 4 on August 10. The site said producers wanted to recast the role as Joe will be "rough and tumble" this season, as a yin to Manny's yang. Isn't he the cutest?
However, Gloria still won't forgive her. Claire demands to know what she can do to make up for it, and Gloria suggests that if Claire jumps in the pool with her clothes on, she will know she is sorry.
A couple months later, Andy is accidentally told that Haley tried to stop his proposal when he overhears Phil and Claire talking. He becomes so distressed at hearing this news that he ends up eating his emotions and gains a lot of weight.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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