Joe Manganiello is setting the record straight about his split from ex-wife Sofia Vergara, addressing the claims she made in a recent interview. The couple, who had been married for seven years, announced their separation nearly a year ago, in July 2023.
In January 2024, Sofia Vergara gave an interview where she opened up about the reasons behind their breakup. According to Sofia, their marriage ended because of differing views on having children. “Well, I’m newly divorced from my second husband, who I was with for 10 years. My marriage broke up because my husband was younger,” Sofia stated. “He wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom… I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore. I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother.”
Joe, however, has a different story to tell. In a new interview with Men’s Journal, he responded to Sofia’s comments and offered his perspective on their split. “There’s been a lot said in the press about me wanting a family. That’s simply not true,” Joe said. “We did try to have a family for the first year and a half,” he clarified. “And we had a huge conversation right out of the gate during the first month we dated. I said, ‘If you’re done with kids, then I understand. Just tell me, and I’ll know what this is, and that’s OK.’ But that wasn’t the case with her. And I swore to her that I would never leave if it didn’t work out. And I didn’t.”
Joe confirmed that he did indeed want children, but emphasized that this wasn’t the definitive reason for their breakup. “To be painted as if I had some sort of midlife crisis, and after nine years, turned to somebody and gave them an ultimatum of, ‘Do this potentially unhealthy thing to your body, or else I’m gone’? That’s never who I was,” he asserted. “It’s because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens.”
Their relationship, once celebrated as a Hollywood fairy tale, is now a complex narrative of differing desires and misunderstandings. Joe’s remarks shine a light on the multifaceted nature of their separation, suggesting that it wasn’t as black-and-white as it might have seemed. He shared that they made an earnest attempt to start a family, and despite their efforts, it wasn’t a lack of children that drove them apart. Instead, it was the natural drift that can occur between two people over time.
Joe and Sofia’s story began in 2014 when they were introduced at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Their whirlwind romance quickly captured public attention, and by December of the same year, they were engaged. They married in a lavish ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 2015, surrounded by family, friends, and a host of celebrities.
