Jesse Tyler Ferguson talks fatherhood: 'We're raising him gay until he decides he's straight'

Jesse Tyler Ferguson has swapped sitcoms for raising a modern family of his own. The actor and husband Justin Mikita welcomed son Beckett via a surrogate last July, and have been settling into fatherhood ever since.

On Monday, the former Modern Family star joked to Ellen DeGeneres that "we're raising him gay until he decides he's straight," telling the talk show host that the 8-month-old baby has been listening to "a lot of show tunes because that's what I like."

It's not just show tunes, thought. Ferguson, 45, added that Beckett's "first exposure to music" was Britney Spears, which his new dads played on the way home from the hospital.

When asked by DeGeneres if Ferguson will love his son the same if he ends up not being gay, he responded "absolutely" — and admitted that he expects Beckett will grow up to "be such a straight kid."

"Who knows?" he added. "I mean, he can be whoever he wants. But like, I just have a feeling [he's] going to play football. I could just tell. And I'm going to have to learn how to do all those things with him."

"It would be wonderful to see you trying to do that with him," DeGeneres quipped.

Ferguson also spoke about making up songs and reading books to his son, with a recent favorite being The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish. He also joked about stuffing Beckett into some too-small cashmere jumpsuits sent over by pal Taylor Swift, who featured him and Mikita in her music video for "You Need to Calm Down."

The Food Between Friends cookbook author shared that he's been eager to be a parent for some time.

"I've been wanting to become a dad for a long time, and I was sort of waiting for Justin's timeline," he told DeGeneres. "He's 10 years younger than me so I was like, 'You let me know when you're ready, but, like, I'm ready yesterday.'"

Of Beckett, he added, "I really do like him. He's a really sweet boy. And it's been a lot of fun."

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