Joe Manganiello claims his ex-wife, Sofía Vergara, allegedly abused him while he battled a near-fatal autoimmune disease during their marriage.
In his upcoming memoir, “Bloodlines,” Manganiello writes about how Vergara “ridiculed” him for his 5-pound dog named Bubbles, who Manganiello adopted in 2019 when he was contemplating suicide, according to People’s Excepts.
“I had to give up my gun because I was thinking about it, and then the dog came,” the “True Blood” actor said. “I went from being a patient to being a caregiver.”
Manganiello, 49, also claims in his book that Vergara, 54, refused to hug him, even when he begged, even though he was seriously ill.
Additionally, the “Magic Mike” star says that despite Vergara’s claims that her desire to have children caused their separation, since she “didn’t want to be an old mom,” he actually gave up on the idea due to his illness.
Manganiello says that after IFV attempts failed, the couple began considering egg donors. But because of his health problems, Manganiello said he didn’t want to die and leave his then-wife with a child “that wasn’t biologically his.”
He says writing his book was his way of setting the record straight.
“There were things said and printed about me that were untrue.”
Page Six has reached out to Vergara’s rep for comment.
In 2024, Vergara alleged that the former couple’s disagreement over starting a family led to their divorce.
“My marriage broke up because my husband was younger; he wanted to have children and I didn’t want to be an old mother,” she said at the time, adding: “I think it’s not fair to the baby.”
Vergara – who shares son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, 34, with her first husband, Joe Gonzalez – also admitted that having children was “not for (her) anymore”.
In his interview with People, Manganiello said his health issues began shortly after he married Vergara in 2015.
His first symptoms included excruciating abdominal pain that left him unable to walk, he recalled, as well as blistering rashes, headaches, fatigue and bleeding from his rectum.
“I was getting sicker and sicker,” he said.
Over the next seven years, Manganiello said he lost 60 pounds, underwent multiple colonoscopies and had emergency surgery in 2016 in which part of his intestines were removed. This forced him to use an ostomy bag to go to the toilet.
“This happened to me, and it’s the truth, and I have all the scars to prove it,” Manganiello told the outlet.
Manganiello said that after medication failed, he finally regained his health by visiting a Santa Monica shaman, who insisted that his generational trauma — including losing his ancestors to the genocide in Armenia and his grandmother’s battle with lupus — was at the root of his health problems.
The “Spider-Man” star said he no longer had symptoms and was no longer taking medication after undergoing follow-up surgery that reconnected his digestive tract.
But more importantly, Manganiello said he was grateful for the support of his fiancée, Caitlin O’Connor, revealing that the couple planned to have children together.
“If it’s meant for me,” he shared. “For seven years, I thought I was going to die the next week. The world opened up to me again.”
“Bloodlines” comes out October 13.
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