Joe Manganiello Just Accused Sofía Vergara of Ridiculing the Dog That Saved His Life, and Her Response Was Ice Cold
Some celebrity divorces fade quietly into the background. This one just exploded back into the spotlight, and the timing could not be more dramatic.
Days before his memoir hits shelves, Joe Manganiello is telling his side of the story of his marriage to Sofía Vergara, and the claims are raw. He says his ex-wife ridiculed the tiny chihuahua that kept him going through the darkest stretch of his life. He says she refused to hug him even when he begged. And he flatly disputes the reason she gave the world for why their marriage ended.
Vergara, never one to take a hit quietly, answered without ever saying his name. Her response was a pair of pointed Instagram posts that fans immediately read as a message directed squarely at him.
Here is everything that is actually on the record.
The Illness Nobody Knew Was That Bad
Manganiello’s memoir, “Bloodlines,” comes out October 13, and in it he describes a seven-year battle with an undiagnosed autoimmune disease that began shortly after he and Vergara married in 2015. According to excerpts reported by People, he suffered excruciating abdominal pain that at times left him unable to walk, along with fevers, blistering rashes, headaches and fatigue.
The numbers are staggering. He lost 60 pounds over the course of seven years. He underwent multiple colonoscopies. In 2016, part of his intestines was removed during emergency surgery, and he had to rely on an ostomy bag to go to the bathroom. It took a follow-up surgery to reconnect his digestive tract before he became symptom-free.
“It happened to me, and it’s the truth, and I have all the scars to prove it,” he told People. “I can’t believe I’m alive. I feel like I was reborn.”
He says the health crisis hollowed out the marriage. In the memoir, he writes that the relationship “become devoid of any emotionality whatsoever.” In one passage, he claims Vergara refused to hug him even when he begged for comfort while he was severely ill.
Reps for Vergara have not publicly commented on the claims, and Page Six reported that reps for both stars did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bubbles, the Five-Pound Chihuahua at the Center of the Fight
The most emotional detail in the excerpt may be the smallest one, literally. During one of the lowest points of his illness in 2019, Manganiello adopted a sickly five-pound chihuahua named Bubbles. He was in such a dark place that he was having suicidal thoughts, and he says he gave away his gun because he kept thinking about it.
Then the dog arrived, and everything shifted. “I went from being the patient to the caretaker,” he wrote.
But according to Manganiello, Vergara “ridiculed” him for the dog. Fans have long noticed how often he carried the little dog around, and the excerpt seemed to explain it for the first time. When Pop Crave shared the passage on X on October 7, it went viral, with many fans saying they felt new sympathy for the actor. Others urged caution, pointing out that only one side of the story has been told so far.
Either way, the revelation put the former couple’s marriage back in the spotlight days before the book’s release.
The Divorce Story: Her Version vs. His Version
Vergara and Manganiello announced their split in July 2023 after seven years of marriage, and the divorce was finalized in 2024. At the time, Vergara told a Spanish newspaper that the marriage ended because her husband, who is younger, wanted children while she did not want to become an older mother.
Manganiello now says that is not how it happened, at least not fully. In the memoir, he writes that he actually gave up on the idea of having children during his illness. After failed IVF attempts, the couple considered egg donors, but Manganiello says he decided he did not want to die and leave his then-wife with a child “who wasn’t biologically hers.”
He told People that writing the memoir was his way of setting the record straight. “There were things said and printed about me that were false.”
The book is not only about the illness or the divorce. Manganiello also traces his Armenian ancestry, including his great-grandmother Terviz Darakjian, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and describes his unconventional search for healing through shamans, pagan rituals, ancient myths and long-lost family records.
Sofía’s Response: Loud Without Saying a Word
Vergara did not give an interview. She did not release a statement. She did something much more her style: she let her Instagram do the talking.
On October 8, she re-shared an Instagram Story graphic originally posted by her son, Manolo, 35, about “dealing with a narcissist” and contrasted their behavior with that of “good men.” The post read, in part: “Remember kids… it doesn’t matter how much you do for a [narcissist]. They will resent you for it and nothing will ever be enough and they’ll always somehow try to paint you as the bad guy.”
The graphic’s bulleted points included statements about narcissists “craving superiority” and “acting like Peter Pan,” among other faults, Page Six reported.
The previous evening, she had re-shared another telling post about “the ability to laugh at oneself” being a sign of “the highest form of intelligence,” while the inability to laugh is proof of “dealing with an idiot.” That post had originally been shared by Tom Brady, who wrote that “life’s too short to be too serious,” and Vergara co-signed it with clapping emojis.
She never named Manganiello. She did not have to. The timing said everything.
Where They Are Now
Two years after the divorce, Manganiello became engaged to actress and TV host Caitlin O’Connor, 37, whom he met after filing for divorce in 2023. The couple does not have immediate plans for children, but Manganiello told People he is open to it. “If that’s meant for me,” he said. “For seven years I thought I was going to be dead the next week. The world has opened back up to me.”
Vergara, 54, has kept her own counsel publicly, beyond those pointed posts. Whether she responds more directly remains to be seen.
One thing is certain: when “Bloodlines” lands on October 13, this story is only getting bigger.
Sources
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