Why Julie Bowen Says Her 3 Teenage Boys Are 'More Expensive Than Horses' (Exclusive)

The 'Hysteria!' actress shares the relatable truths about raising her three sons

Julie Bowen is opening up about the funny realities of raising teen boys.

The actress, 54, now starring in the pop-horror series Hysteria!, has to laugh about how much her sons Oliver, 17, and twins Gus and John, 15, eat.

"The eat again right after dinner," she tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "We'll leave a restaurant and they'll come home and they're immediately boiling water. I'm like, what's going on? 'Oh we're just going to make some pasta. Like, what?"

Bowen, who grew up in Maryland, says her childhood was decidedly different from her own kids, who were born and raised in Los Angeles.

"We were in the yard all day, pretending to ride horses on broomsticks, putting on plays for our parents," she says of growing up with her two sisters. "I actually did learn to ride horses and always wanted one but my mom wouldn't let me. Maybe when the kids are out of school I'll get one. But the only thing more expensive than horses are teenage boys."

Related: Meet Julie Bowen’s Kids! All About the Modern Family Star’s Sons Oliver, John and Gusav

She adds, "You go grocery shopping, get home, food is gone."

Another relatable aspect of raising teens?

"Socks. Towels and socks everywhere all the time," she says. "I don't understand it. Underwear on the kitchen counter. Like what? It's like that religious thing, I'm forgetting the name, where everyone gets sucked up to heaven and there's just a pile of clothes left behind. That's my house."

The Modern Family alum also recently opened up on Today with Hoda and Jenna about how her kids are pulling away from her as they get older, which she says is a bummer.

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"It’s like I got dumped by three guys I was madly in love with," she said. "I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m right in the kitchen,’ and they never show up. It’s as desperate as I ever felt in high school when you had a crush on a boy."

She continues, "‘Like, Hi… it’s me… mom… I birthed you?’" Bowen says. "They don’t care. But they do get excited. They’re excited for Hysteria. They’re excited for Happy Gilmore. They get excited for new stuff."

Related: Julie Bowen Says Reuniting with 'Lovely' Adam Sandler on Happy Gilmore 2 Feels 'Big' (Exclusive)

While Bowen makes jokes about her real life mom problems, she's loving getting to play a different kind of mom in her new series Hysteria!.

"Something's really wrong," she says of her character Linda Campbell, whose son forms a metal band in the middle of the satanic panic of the '80s. "And we don't know whether she's possessed by the devil or she's completely in her head and that this is a crazy person. And I thought, I like that," she says.

"At the end of the first season it's still unclear to me. Is my character nuts? It's really fun."

Hysteria! is streaming on Peacock.