Joe Manganiello Denies Ex-Wife Sofia Vergara's Claims They Split Because He Wanted Kids
The 'Modern Family' actress told a Spanish newspaper they split over his desire to have kids earlier this year.
Joe Manganiello has denied claims he divorced ex-wife Sofia Vergara because he wanted to have children but she didn't.
In an interview with Men's Journal, the 47-year-old actor directly addressed comments his 52-year-old ex-wife made regarding their divorce earlier this year. She told the Spanish publication El Pais that they split because "he wanted to have kids and I didn't want to be an old mom." Manganiello, however, says that wasn't the case.
“There's been a lot said in the press about me wanting a family," he said. "That's simply not true. We did try to have a family for the first year and a half. 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 okay.’ 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."
The Modern Family actress, who announced her split from Manganiello last year, welcomed her only child, Manolo, with her first husband Joe Gonzalez in 1991. Manganiello admitted that he did want to have kids with Vergara, whom he met in 2014 and married the following year, but it "wasn't inevitably why everything ended."
"It's because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens," he said. "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."
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Manganiello has since confirmed a relationship with actress Caitlin O'Connor, while Vergara is in a relationship with orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman. They've both kept busy ever since their split. Vergara voices a character in the No. 1 box office hit Despicable Me 4, and recently appeared in the lead role in Netflix crime drama Griselda. Manganiello, meanwhile, is writing a book and will star and produce a zombie movie based on the book Mountain Man, and serves as a producer on Deal or No Deal Island.
