Joe Manganiello claims that his ex-wife Sofia Vergara made fun of him for his little dog Bubbles and refused to hug him while he was battling a severe autoimmune disease. The actor describes the experience in his memoir “Bloodlines“, which is released on October 13.
Manganiello says that he adopted the five-kilogram dog in 2019, when his health was deteriorating and he himself was considering suicide. “I had to give up my gun because I was constantly thinking about it, and then the dog came along. "I went from being a patient to being a caregiver," the actor wrote.
According to him, Sofia Vergara mocked his affection for Bubbles. He also claims that she refused to hug him even when he begged her to during the worst moments of his illness.
The actor says that his health problems began shortly after his wedding to Vergara in 2015. The first symptoms included unbearable abdominal pain that left him unable to walk, blistering rashes, headaches, extreme fatigue and rectal bleeding.
“I got sicker and sicker“, Joe Manganiello recalls. Over seven years, he lost almost 30 kg, underwent multiple colonoscopies and underwent emergency surgery in 2016. A portion of his intestine was removed, and he used a stoma after the procedure.
Manganiello says that after medication failed, he also sought help from a shaman in Santa Monica. According to him, the shaman linked his condition to hereditary trauma, including his ancestors' experiences in Armenia and his grandmother's battle with lupus.
The actor claims that today he is symptom-free and takes no medication after subsequent surgery restored the connection in his digestive tract. “This happened to me and it's true. "I have all the signs to prove it," he says.
In his book, Joe Manganiello also disputes the explanation that his marriage to Vergara ended mainly because of a dispute over whether to have children. After unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization, the two considered a donor egg, but the actor claims that he gave up on the idea for health reasons.
He didn't want to die and leave his then-wife to raise a child who wasn't biologically hers. Manganiello says he wrote the memoir to present his side of the story: "There were things that were said and printed about me that weren't true." In 2024, Sofia Vergara said their marriage fell apart because Manganiello wanted children while she didn't want to be an "older mother." The two were married from 2015 to 2023. They are now engaged to Caitlin O'Connor. The couple is considering having children, and the actor says that after years of expecting to die next week, he sees a future again.