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‘Married With Children’s Ed O’Neill Recalls Hilarious Story of Meeting Taylor Swift

‘Married With Children’s Ed O’Neill Recalls Hilarious Story of Meeting Taylor Swift

By:

Caitlin Berard

Regardless of your taste in music, it’s impossible to deny that Taylor Swift is factually one of the most famous people in the world. She has the highest-grossing tour in a single year of all time and her success on the charts rivals that of The Beatles. Apparently, however, Married With Children star Ed O’Neill has been living under a rock for the past 15 years or so, because he had no idea who she was.

The unexpected meetup occurred at the birthday party of Ed O’Neill’s on-screen granddaughter, Sarah Hyland, who starred alongside him in the smash-hit sitcom Modern Family. The guest list was, of course, full of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, who instantly recognized O’Neill and approached him for a chat.

“This beautiful young woman came up to me,” O’Neill recalled in a 2018 interview on Ellen. “When I go to these things, I don’t look at people closely. It’s a bit overwhelming if there’s a lot of people there you don’t know, some celebrities. And so this woman came up to me and said, ‘Hi again. Nice to meet you.’”

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Being polite, the 90s sitcom icon responded in kind and even agreed to a selfie with the “beautiful young woman.” Secretly, though, he didn’t recognize her. “I know she’s famous. But I can’t place her,” he admitted.

After parting ways with the singer, O’Neill whipped out his phone to send the selfie to his daughter, Sophia, hoping that she could identify the mystery woman. “I said, ‘I desperately need to know a name so that when I leave and say the name: ‘Wonderful to meet you,’” O’Neill said.

Unsurprisingly, Ed O’Neill’s daughter had no trouble whatsoever identifying the woman – it was Taylor Swift, after all. “I’m having you committed,” his daughter replied after seeing the photo and realizing her father didn’t recognize one of the biggest pop stars in the world.

Though Taylor Swift is obviously a fan of the Married With Children star, she shouldn’t feel too bad that he didn’t recognize her. Ed O’Neill having no idea who you are has become a bit of a rite of passage for mega pop stars. He didn’t recognize Britney Spears either.

Another O’Neill fan, Spears approached the actor in an airport hoping for a picture. And though he agreed, he didn’t realize who he had met until he received a call from his incredulous manager about a viral photo with the Princess of Pop. “The next day, my manager texts me and goes, ‘What is this? 53,000 likes. It’s Britney Spears,’” O’Neill recalled.

“I mean, look at my face: Do I look like I’m sitting with Britney Spears?” he joked. “You know, my daughter, Sophia, she said, ‘You are a moron.’”