Jesse Tyler Ferguson mistakenly texted someone for years thinking it was Vanessa Williams

Leigh BlickleyTue, August 11, 2026 at 5:19 PM UTC

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(R) Jesse Tyler Ferguson and (L) Vanessa WilliamsCredit: Jesse Tyler Ferguson/Instagram Vanessa Williams/InstagramKey Points -

Jesse Tyler Ferguson mistakenly texted a stranger for years thinking it was Vanessa Williams.

In one instance, he texted the person “c---” as a joke to Williams.

Williams learned of Ferguson’s snafu while in POTUS on Broadway.

If you start receiving out-of-the-blue texts from Jesse Tyler Ferguson, just forward them to Vanessa Williams.

On Tuesday, the actor confessed during his Dinner’s on Me podcast that he mistakenly texted someone for years thinking it was his former Miss America friend. The pair originally exchanged numbers while working together on Sondheim on Sondheimat the Hollywood Bowl in 2017—but turns out Williams didn’t receive any messages in the years that followed.

“I would text you occasionally, but I never would get a response,” Ferguson told Williams, who appeared as this week’s guest on the podcast. “It didn’t bother me. I was never waiting for Vanessa to text me back. But I would always text you again like, ‘Oh, the last text I sent to her is right there. She never responded. Oh well, she’s busy.’ This happened for, like, a few years.”

Ferguson went on to tell Williams that he continued to text her “little things” like screenshots he took or photos of his kids. But, still, no reply.

They eventually reconnected in New York when she was starring on Broadway in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive and he was “across the street doing Take Me Out” in 2022.

“For your last show, basically I know the entire cast of POTUS at this point, so I sent a group text to you all,” Ferguson explained. “The first line of your play was the C-word, see you next Tuesday—it’s spoken by Julie White—so I said, ‘Congratulations! Have a great last show, C-word.’ The comments go,‘Haha, that’s so funny,’ and then I see, ‘Vanessa Williams has left the conversation.’”

The Modern Family star detailed his embarrassment when he thought he offended Williams with the joke, as Williams laughed.

“So, I privately text you and I say, ‘Vanessa, I’m so sorry, I was quoting the play. I’m so sorry if I offended you.’ This person responds back, ‘This is not Vanessa Williams! Please stop texting me.’ [For] years I’ve been texting this person!”

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Ferguson and Williams let out huge giggles as he explained that he soon asked her POTUS costar Lea Delaria to show the Ugly Betty alum his text exchange with the stranger.

The cast of ‘POTUS’Credit: Bruce Glikas/WireImage

“She goes into your dressing room, shows you this exchange, you’re laughing so hard, like, ‘Please give Jesse my right number,’” Ferguson said, noting that he probably just her number down wrong initially. “No, I had two different phones,” Williams insisted.

“Well, the number I had that was no longer your number was now someone else’s number,” Ferguson replied. “Mortified. Mortified. But glad we cleared that up.”

Williams responded, “Yes, yes, yes. And you can call me the C-word anytime you’d like! Not offended.”

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Ferguson concluded by saying he’s “gotten a lot of mileage out of that story” before thanking Williams for appearing on his show.

Williams is now starring as Miranda Priestly in the West End musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada at London’s Dominion Theatre. Ferguson, for his part, is set to reprise his stage role as Truman Capote in a London run of Jay Presson Allen’s Tru beginning in September.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”