“Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson had to come out to his father again and again and again

It’s so damned tough coming out to a parent.

Imagine having to do it three times.

That’s what happened to Jesse Tyler Ferguson who tells Oprah Winfrey about it in a special that airs on Sunday night.

‘He would like conveniently forget,’ Jesse says in the next episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter that also features Wanda Sykes and Dan Bukatinsky.

Jesse remembers the last time he had to have the coming out conversation – yet again.

‘He asked me if I had a girlfriend. I was like, “Dad, I’m gay. Do we really go back to this every time?”‘

Looking back, he realizes his dad was going through his own process and ‘having to figure out how to deal with the son that wasn’t the ideal son that he had (in mind).’

‘He had this whole idea of what his son was going to be,’ Jesse adds. ‘He had to reconfigure his thinking. It’s a coming out process for them as well – to his friends and co-workers – to say “I have a gay son.”‘