Ed O’Neill was so in the zone that he didn’t even recognize Britney Spears.
“I was in LAX. I was flying alone to Hawaii. I was waiting for my flight to board,” the “Modern Family” star, 70, told Ellen DeGeneres on Monday about his encounter with the bombshell in March 2015.
“They told me the flight was boarding, and I picked up … a little ‘Modern Family’ hat. I saw a woman approaching me, so I just flopped it on, you know, I was leaving. She came up and said, ‘Oh, Mr. O’Neill, I love ‘Modern Family,’ and you’re my favorite on the show.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m here, and I’m the only one here.'”
“[She said,] ‘Could you please … and I know you’re in a hurry,'” O’Neill continued. “She couldn’t have been nicer. So I said, ‘Sure, fine, you know, okay.’ So she sat there, and we took it, and I said, ‘Have a nice trip. I’m going,’ and I left. So the next day, my manager texts me and goes, ‘What is this? 53,000 likes. It’s Britney Spears!'”
O’Neill insists he had no idea the sweet gal at the airport was the 34-year-old pop icon. “No, I didn’t know it was her! I mean, look at my face: Do I look like I’m sitting with Britney Spears?” O’Neill said. “You know, my daughter, Sophia, she said, ‘You are a moron.'”
As for Spears? She certainly seemed happy with the experience.