Joe Manganiello and Sofía Vergara’s seven-year marriage once looked like Hollywood’s picture-perfect romance, but his new memoir offers a very different behind-the-scenes look.
Manganiello has now opened up about his side of the story, describing a devastating health battle that he says nearly cost him his life and profoundly changed their relationship.
Excerpts from the book detailing his claims about emotional distance, his struggles, and the couple’s disagreement over why their marriage ended have fans taking sides.
“I believe him. Always seems like such a nice dude. She seems mean,” one person wrote online.
Joe Manganiello says, “I can’t believe I’m alive,” as he reopens the story behind his divorce from Sofía Vergara
Manganiello and Vergara first met in 2014 and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable couples.
After beginning their relationship that summer, they got engaged later that year and married in November 2015 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Their relationship lasted nearly a decade from their first meeting until their divorce was finalized in 2024.
For years, the pair regularly appeared together at premieres, award shows, and other high-profile events.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Culture Makers
Behind the scenes, however, Joe says he was dealing with a severe and largely unexplained illness that began around the start of their marriage.
According to People, his seven-year health battle involved severe abdominal pain, fevers, rashes, rectal bleeding, dramatic weight loss, repeated colonoscopies, and an emergency surgery in 2016.
Reportedly, doctors never gave him a definitive diagnosis.
The couple announced their separation in July 2023, citing irreconcilable differences.
At the time, the split appeared relatively amicable, with neither publicly detailing a bitter private conflict.
Now, in his memoir Bloodlines, Joe offers far more detail about what he says he experienced during those years.
The actor says that his health battle pushed him to confront his mental health struggles, including s**cidal thoughts.
According to excerpts reported by People, he wrote, “I had to give my g*n away because I kept thinking about it, and then the dog came. I went from being the patient to the caretaker.”
Manganiello claims that his marriage became emotionally distant during this period and writes that it had “become devoid of any emotionality whatsoever.”
Manganiello says his illness left him questioning his future and changed the emotional dynamic of his marriage
He also alleges that the Modern Family star refused to hug him even when he begged her while he was severely ill and that she “ridiculed” him for adopting Bubbles, his pet dog.
Manganiello also uses Bloodlines to challenge one of the most widely repeated explanations for the couple’s divorce.
Sofía had previously alleged the marriage ended because “my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids, and I didn’t want to be an old mom.”
Joe now says that version leaves out what was happening with his health.
According to the memoir excerpts, the couple had attempted IVF and later considered using an egg donor.
But he says his illness eventually changed his thinking about becoming a father.
He claims he became afraid that his condition could take his life and leave Vergara raising a child who was not biologically hers.
Rather than continuing to pursue parenthood, he says he ultimately gave up.
“There were things said and printed about me that were false,” Manganiello says, explaining that he wanted his memoir to set the record straight.
Joe and Sofía went from a whirlwind romance to a seven-year marriage before announcing their split in 2023
The revelations have sparked a fierce debate online, with many commenters immediately siding with Manganiello while others have urged people not to treat one person’s memoir as the complete truth.
“How a partner treats their other half when they’re sick says everything about the person,” one commenter wrote.
Another added, “Thank God, this wonderful man got away from that narcissistic woman. She never deserved him. She never appreciated him.”
Others expressed, “So glad you’re out of that toxic marriage. I hope the future is bright for you I wish you nothing but the best.”
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
However, there was also plenty of pushback, with Sofía’s supporters questioning Joe’s narrative.
“The most dangerous enemy of a successful woman is a jealous man, they can’t stand to be with a woman who makes more money than them,” one commenter argued.
Another urged both stars to leave the past behind: “How about neither one bashes the other!! Live and learn, move on man.”
“In every divorce there are three truths: what he says, what she says, and the truth,” a third user wrote.
The 49-year-old star strongly disputes that wanting children was the main reason their marriage fell apart
Another echoed the sentiment, saying, “Remember there’s always 3 sides to every story. There’s your side, their side, and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. Don’t believe everything you read.”
“People hear one side of the history and all make their own conclusions about how bad she was. He is selling the history for money and when a person do that it’s not a good person.”
The book also details Joe’s search for answers beyond conventional medicine, including his exploration of spirituality, ancient myths, shamanic practices, and his Armenian family history.
And while Vergara has not yet addressed these claims, she previously told Variety in a 2024 interview, saying, “At the end of the day, you never even know if that’s what he said for real.”
The actress continued, “I’ve read a lot of things that I’ve said that I’m like, ‘Huh?’ What am I gonna do, call him? I don’t know if he even said that.”
Both Manganiello and Vergara have since moved on with their lives, with Joe engaged to actress and television host Caitlin O’Connor.
Sofía, meanwhile, appears to be single and has continued working in Hollywood since Modern Family ended, including her acclaimed role in Griselda.
The memoir is officially scheduled for release on October 13, 2026, offering readers a fuller look at the story Manganiello says he has kept largely private for years.
“He needs his name in the news again. What’s with male celebrities starting to remember past issues?” questioned one netizen
