Claire Dunphy

Grew Up… in the Pritchett family. Her parents DeDe, the kooky mom, and Jay, the somewhat distant dad, later divorced. Her brother Mitchell claims that Claire was bossy and mean in high school, while she thinks of herself as having been “out of control.” But she’s become much more serious since her wild-child days.

Living… in a beautiful house in suburban Los Angeles with her husband, Phil, and three children – Haley, Alex, and Luke. As a home-maker, Claire can sometimes feel a little cooped-up. She’s made tense by her family’s quirks and often feels as though she is fighting a losing battle against chaos.

Profession… stay-at-home mom. Her parenting style is far stricter than Phil’s laid-back approach. Claire was on track to work in hospitality management before she became pregnant with Haley and married Phil. This led to her harboring some ill will toward former co-workers and made her occasionally yearn for more competitive forms of occupation. 

Interests… reading, biking and running. Her competitive personality manifests itself in a number of ways. For example, she is more athletic than Phil, and is willing to prove it with a race. Another time they race each other in separate cars to see who knows the fastest route to a restaurant. Let’s just add “competition” to her list of interests.

Relationship Status… married to Phil, a complete foil in terms of approach to work, play, and parenting. Phil’s love of “cheesy movies” and juvenile sense of humor sometimes makes him seem like another kid she has to raise. At the end of the day, though, Claire has come to love Phil’s goofiness. At a closet convention (yes, it’s a thing) she tells her unimpressed dad Jay that she was “the star of the evening. I got a huge laugh when I coined the phrase ‘shelf esteem.’ Huh? Yeah? Okay, I’ll text it to Phil.”

Challenge… relaxing a bit and learning to let go. She believes much of her seemingly never-ending stress comes from her children and husband. While there’s a lot of truth in that, Claire also brings much of the tension on herself by being tightly wound. Sometimes she could learn a lot from Phil’s more casual attitude.

Personality… perfectionist who’s often unable to hold her tongue. As she once put it, “If I say something that everybody else is thinking, does that make me a mean person? Or does that make me a brave person, one who is courageous enough to stand up and say something, behind someone’s back to a 10-year-old?” But don’t cross someone in her family, because you definitely don’t want to be on Claire’s bad side.