Modern Family star recalls thinking she was 'going to die' after being told she needed a pacemaker at 29 years old

A key Modern Family star spoke about a health condition she was diagnosed with ahead of starring on the show and the shock at just how serious it was.

Actress Julie Bowen, who played mother Claire Dunphy in the popular TV sitcom Modern Family, has opened up in a recent interview about getting a pacemaker before turning 30.

She also addressed her health condition that meant she needed the heart medical device, and how just how crucial her sister was in revealing that something wasn’t right.

Speaking on the Inside of You podcast with Michael Rosenbaum, she said: “I do have a pacemaker, I forget about that all the time.

“I had sick sinus syndrome, hypervagotonia, it means your heartrate goes really low. It was [a really low resting heartrate] now it is set so it can’t go below 45.”

Bowen got candid about her health condition in a new interview (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

The actress explained that she used to be a runner through high school, and had a really low heartrate. She joked that while she was in college, her sister was in med school, and at the time, she was at a point where she often had a stethoscope with her.

When her sister listened to her heart rate, she became worried and instructed her to go to a cardiologist, as her heart rate was concerningly low.

Bowen continued: “She said ‘that is not runner’s heart or what they’ve been telling you.

“'You need to go to a cardiologist immediately', and she would not let it go.”

“I shot the pilot of [TV show] Ed and immediately after had to go get a pacemaker afterwards.

“I thought ‘oh my God my life is over, this is so weird, I’m going to die’, I don’t know what I thought it was, because I was, like, 29."

Bowen said she got the pacemaker fitted after shooting the pilot for 2000 show Ed (NBC)

The actress admitted that she wasn’t told that she could have died ahead of getting a pacemaker but that she could have started passing out regularly.

She noted that this could still have deadly consequences, however.

Bowen added: “It was like I had been holding my breath for a while, that feeling of light headedness.

“They said you are going to be driving a car and you are going to pass out and you are going to kill somebody and I was like ‘oh, give me the goddamn pacemaker.’”

The actress seemed in good spirits about the whole thing, and said she has had it replaced a couple times, due to the battery dying.