Highlights
- Joe Manganiello details a 7-year autoimmune crisis that required emergency surgery and organ amputation.
- The actor alleges Sofía Vergara ridiculed him and completely refused to comfort him while he was sick.
- Manganiello contradicts Vergara’s divorce claims, stating he gave up on having children during his illness.
Joe Manganiello is breaking his silence on a harrowing seven-year medical crisis, offering raw insight into his physical suffering and the emotional fracture of his marriage to Sofía Vergara.
In his upcoming memoir, Bloodlines, and a new interview with People, the 49-year-old actor details an autoimmune ordeal that nearly ended his life.
“I can’t believe I’m alive,” Manganiello confessed, explaining that his mystery symptoms began shortly after his 2015 wedding to Vergara.
Over the next seven years, the actor lost 60 pounds and faced excruciating abdominal pain that left him unable to walk. He underwent repeated colonoscopies before a 2016 emergency surgery removed a portion of his intestines, leaving him dependent on an ostomy bag.
“[Autoimmune] conditions are a dumping ground for things [doctors] don’t understand,” Manganiello stated.
Doctors treated him for Crohn’s disease and colitis, but standard medications provided no relief. Manganiello resorted to managing his extreme pain with hydrocodone pills, fentanyl patches, and marijuana.
His book describes the era as a period of “chronic pain, a life-saving organ amputation, existential crisis and a prolonged fight for survival.”
“It happened to me, and it’s the truth, and I have all the scars to prove it,” he detailed.
The physical toll quickly pushed the actor into severe depression and active suicidal ideation. He credits his ultimate survival to the unexpected arrival of his rescue dog, Bubbles.
“I had to give my gun away because I kept thinking about it, and then the dog came,” Manganiello revealed. “I went from being the patient to the caretaker.”
Simultaneously, Manganiello claims his illness destroyed his relationship with Vergara. According to the actor, their marriage had “become devoid of any emotionality whatsoever” during his most vulnerable moments.
Manganiello alleges that Vergara refused to comfort him when he begged for affection. He further claims she actively “ridiculed” him over his deep attachment to the dog that kept him alive.
He also uses the memoir to directly challenge Vergara’s widely circulated public statements regarding their 2023 divorce.
Vergara previously claimed they split because Manganiello wanted children, and she refused to be an “old mom.” Manganiello completely contradicts this narrative, stating he had entirely abandoned the idea of fatherhood while he was fighting his illness.
After seeking out a Santa Monica shaman, Manganiello eventually underwent another surgery to reconnect his digestive tract.
Today, Manganiello reports he is finally healthy, completely symptom-free, and no longer relying on medication. Now engaged to Caitlin O’Connor, he is cautiously reconsidering the possibility of having children.
“If that’s meant for me,” he said regarding fatherhood.
Looking back at the trauma that defined his late thirties, the actor feels lucky to have survived.
“For seven years I thought I was going to be dead the next week,” Manganiello reflected. “The world has opened back up to me.”
