Joe Manganiello’s ‘Bloodlines’ Memoir: The Biggest Sofía Vergara Revelations, From a Painful Health Battle to a Voodoo Curse Claim
Joe Manganiello’s new memoir, Bloodlines, has arrived, and it does not shy away from the more complicated chapters of his personal life, including several moments involving his ex-wife, Sofía Vergara. The book has already generated headlines for its candid exploration of his health struggles, his marriage, and even a bizarre shaman encounter. And while Manganiello insists the book is about much more than his previous relationship, the sections that touch on Vergara have unquestionably captured the most attention.
The timing of the book’s release has only added to the intrigue. While Manganiello was celebrating the launch of Bloodlines, Vergara appeared to share a pointed message on social media. On October 8, the Modern Family star reshared a quote about narcissistic men, which many took as subtle commentary on her ex-husband. The quote read: “Remember kids, when dealing with a narcissist, it doesn’t matter how much you do for them, because 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.” She did not name Manganiello directly, but the timing of the post, in the middle of his promotional tour, led to widespread speculation.
The actor was later asked about Vergara’s post during an appearance on CBS Mornings. Host Gayle King did not let the moment pass quietly and asked Manganiello directly for his reaction. Rather than engaging in a public back-and-forth, Manganiello responded with a measured and somewhat philosophical answer. He said that anyone who believes the book is solely about his relationship with Vergara should actually read it first. “I think anybody who said that should read the book first and understand what the book is actually about because it’s not about that,” he explained on October 12. “It’s about the suffering that I went through. I try to paint everyone with an amount of grace, no matter who they are. Because it is a nuanced discussion, and it’s not something that I care to carry out on social media. I’m here to talk to you, and I hope that people pick up the book because what it’s about, is it’s about survival and it’s also about hope.”
Despite that graceful framing, Bloodlines does contain several significant revelations involving Vergara. From his private seven-year medical battle to the shocking theory involving a voodoo curse, here is a closer look at the biggest moments from the memoir that relate to his former wife.
A Seven-Year Health Battle That Took a Toll
One of the most emotionally heavy sections of Bloodlines focuses on Manganiello’s long and difficult health journey. According to the memoir, the actor spent seven years dealing with an unexplained illness that left him suffering through multiple colonoscopies and eventually emergency surgery to remove part of his intestines. He reportedly never received a formal diagnosis during that time, leaving him in a state of chronic uncertainty and physical distress.
Manganiello alleges that this ongoing struggle put enormous strain on his marriage to Vergara. In the book, he writes that their relationship had become “devoid of any emotionality whatsoever.” Perhaps even more painful, he claims that at a moment when he was desperate for comfort and support, Vergara refused to hug him—even after he begged her for that simple gesture of affection. The image is a stark and vulnerable one, and it has become one of the most discussed passages in the memoir.
Us Weekly reached out to Vergara’s team for comment on these allegations, but as of the time of publication, no response had been given. The actress has not publicly addressed the claims beyond the cryptic social media post about narcissism, which many interpreted as a direct response to the narratives emerging from the book.
Sofía’s Life-Saving Decision
At the same time, Manganiello is careful to acknowledge that Vergara played an undeniably critical role during the most dangerous moment of his medical ordeal. In fact, he credits her with helping to save his life.
According to excerpts published by Entertainment Weekly, Manganiello writes that while he was under anesthesia during surgery, doctors reached out to Vergara as his next of kin. They needed someone to make a difficult and urgent decision: whether to allow the removal of his severely infected large intestine. Vergara reportedly made the call to proceed with the operation, a decision that Manganiello describes as both brutal and lifesaving. He writes that she gave doctors permission to remove his entire large intestine and to create an opening in his abdomen to divert his small intestine.
When Manganiello woke up after a ten-hour surgery, Vergara was there beside him. She was the one who explained what had happened, telling him that the procedure had saved his life but that he would now be living with an ostomy bag for an uncertain period of time—possibly forever. It was a moment of profound vulnerability, and Manganiello does not minimize the weight of what Vergara did in that moment. While the memoir paints a complicated portrait of their marriage, it also makes clear that she rose to the occasion when a life-or-death decision had to be made.
The Shaman and the Voodoo Curse
Perhaps the strangest revelation in Bloodlines involves a shaman and a theory about why Manganiello had been suffering for years. While searching for answers about his mysterious illness, Manganiello recalls being introduced to a shaman who offered an unexpected explanation: someone had allegedly placed a “voodoo curse” on him because they were still in love with Vergara.
According to the memoir, the shaman somehow knew things about Manganiello’s condition that had not been shared publicly. The shaman reportedly told him that he was “sick” and that “something is wrong with his intestines.” Given how private Manganiello had kept his medical struggles, he was stunned. He writes that he looked at Vergara with a mixture of fear, anger, and disbelief.
The shaman continued with an even more surprising claim, saying, “Someone from your past is still in love with you. He put a voodoo curse on your husband. He did it in New Orleans. Your husband needs to be cleansed and protected. I can do this. I can help him. But I need to see him for two days, and I cannot come to the United States. Can he meet me somewhere else? I could meet him in Ecuador.”
Manganiello writes that he was completely taken aback, thinking to himself, “trying to comprehend how the f*** this guy could possibly know any of this. None of this had been mentioned in the press. No one knew.” The moment is surreal, and Manganiello does not try to tidy it up or offer a neat explanation. Instead, he presents it as part of his larger search for answers during a period when conventional medicine had failed to give him any clarity.
The Tom Cruise Question
Another surprising thread in the memoir involves Tom Cruise. Manganiello writes about his experience auditioning for the Amazon series Jack Reacher, a role that ultimately went to Alan Ritchson. But the actor suggests that his casting might have been blocked for reasons unrelated to his performance.
According to Page Six, Manganiello claims in Bloodlines that his team speculated Cruise, who was listed as an executive producer on the project, could have intervened to stop him from being cast because of his history with Vergara. Cruise allegedly dated Vergara back in 2005, long before her marriage to Manganiello. The implication, as Manganiello’s team reportedly framed it, was that Cruise might have used his influence to veto Manganiello’s casting because of that old connection.
It is worth noting that Cruise is not listed on IMDb as part of the Reacher production, so the theory remains speculative. Still, Manganiello includes it in the book as part of a larger pattern of moments in his life where he felt that forces beyond his control were working against him. Us Weekly has reached out to Cruise’s team for comment, but no response has been reported at this time.
A Memoir About Survival, Not Just a Former Marriage
While the chapters involving Vergara have dominated the headlines, Manganiello continues to stress that Bloodlines is not meant to be a tell-all about his marriage. In interviews and public appearances, he has repeatedly redirected the conversation back to the themes he considers most important: survival, pain, hope, and the process of reclaiming one’s life after a long period of suffering.
He has also emphasized that he tried to treat everyone in the book with grace and nuance, including Vergara. That approach is visible in the way he acknowledges her life-saving decision even as he shares painful memories of emotional distance. The book does not present a one-dimensional portrait of their relationship. Instead, it shows a marriage that contained both love and struggle, moments of profound support and moments of deep isolation.
As readers continue to work through Bloodlines, it seems clear that the public conversation around the book will keep circling back to Vergara, no matter how much Manganiello tries to shift the focus. The combination of a viral social media post, a high-profile interview, and a series of intimate revelations has made this one of the most talked-about celebrity memoirs of the year. Whether that attention is welcome or not, Manganiello’s story is now out in the world, and the reactions continue to unfold.
