Joe Manganiello Blames His Autoimmune Disease For Failed Marriage To Sofia Vergara
Joe Manganiello Blames His Autoimmune Disease For Failed Marriage To Sofia Vergara
Lily Elizabeth BolanosThu, October 8, 2026 at 4:55 AM UTC
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True Blood actor Joe Manganiello is using his new memoir, Bloodlines, to tell his side of the story.
In Bloodlines, Manganiello, 49, opens up about his life and his struggle with an autoimmune illness.
Manganiello says his decade-long health battle nearly killed him and led to “major organ amputation.” In an exclusive with People, he was candid about his autoimmune illness and alleges it contributed to the collapse of his marriage to Sofía Vergara.
The One Piece Live Action actor married Modern Family actress Vergara in 2015. Soon after the wedding, Manganiello’s health began declining.
He said, “I was getting sicker and sicker.” Excruciating pain, extreme weight loss, and countless medical procedures took their toll over the years. In 2016, Manganiello had emergency surgery to have part of his intestines removed, which forced him to use an ostomy bag.
He explained, “[Autoimmune] conditions are a dumping ground for things [doctors] don’t understand. They start running you through this gauntlet of drugs.” Manganiello never received a definitive diagnosis despite countless tests and symptoms.
After 13 years of sobriety, Manganiello had to turn to fentanyl patches and marijuana. “I didn’t feel like I deserved to say that I was sober, [but] I had to put the pain and the condition first.”
Manganiello wrote that as he searched for answers from doctors, his marriage had “become devoid of any emotionality whatsoever.”
The Magic Mike actor said Vergara ridiculed him for his tiny chihuahua Bubbles and refused to hug him. Manganiello had adopted Bubbles in 2019 while considering suicide. “I had to give my gun away because I kept thinking about it, and then the dog came. I went from being the patient to the caretaker,” he said.
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After the couple split, Vergara, now 54, told a Spanish publication that they split “because my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids, and I didn’t want to be an old mom.” Manganiello pushed back against this. He also said he gave up the idea of having kids because of his illness, worried he would die and leave Vergara with a child “who wasn’t biologically hers.”
Writing Bloodlines was Manganiello’s way to set the record straight. “There were things said and printed about me that were false.”
Manganiello searched for answers wherever he could find them, including in non-traditional medicine. Eventually that led him to a shaman in Santa Monica, whom he says helped him find healing. The shaman explained that his generational trauma was at fault.
This sent Manganiello on a journey through his family history. His great-grandmother lost nine children in the Armenian genocide, and his grandmother struggled with lupus. “Whatever chains there were to the past suffering of my ancestors, they were completely broken. There’s not an ounce of fear in me about moving forward with my life.”
Manganiello is now symptom-free and off his medications.
Dr. Dawn Beaulieu from Vanderbilt University Medical Center noted, “Autoimmune diseases can go into remission.” She continued, “From a medical standpoint, all we know is that he’s better. This was his journey.”
Since the divorce from Vergara, Manganiello is now engaged to Caitlin O’Connor, 37. The pair are considering children, and Manganiello noted, “If that’s meant for me.”
The actor said, “For seven years I thought I was going to be dead the next week. The world has opened back up to me.” He added, “I can’t believe I’m alive.”
Bloodlines is available on October 13 anywhere books are sold.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Oct 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
