Joe Manganiello is finally sharing his side of the story.
The “True Blood” alum, who settled his divorce from Sofía Vergara in February, denied her claim that they split because he wanted kids and she didn’t in a new interview with Men’s Journal.
“[That] wasn’t inevitably why everything ended,” the 47-year-old actor noted. “It’s because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens.”
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He /confirm/ied, however, that the pair did “try to have a family for the first year and a half” of their marriage.
He also claimed he and Vergara, 52, had a deep conversation about kids when they first began dating in 2014.
“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,'” he recalled saying. “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.”
In January, Vergara claimed to El País that she and Manganiello called it quits because they were unable to agree on the future of their family.
“My marriage broke up because my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids, and I didn’t want to be an old mom,” she said.
Manganiello expressed his frustration about her statement in his chat with Men’s Health.
“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 said, defending himself.
He and the “Modern Family” alum announced in July 2023 that they were going their separate ways after seven years of marriage.
“We have made the difficult decision to divorce.As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives,” they told Pvnew in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, a source close to the former couple told us they “had been growing apart for a while.”
Days after their breakup announcement, Pvnew reported they separated over their differing views about starting a family. Our insider said Manganiello always wanted to be a father and his desire only grew as the years went on.
In May, Vergara gave more insight into her decision to not have more kids while chatting with People.
“I was a mother already. I know what it means to be a good mother or to try to be the best mother that you can, and that takes a lot of sacrifices, takes a lot of energy,” she explained.
“I didn’t think because of my career, the way I live my life, the way my marriage was, that it was fair to bring a kid to this world, and I’m not going to be able to give 100 percent.”
The Emmy-nominated actress has a 32-year-old son named Manolo with her first husband, Joe Gonzalez.
She has since moved on with orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman. The pair has been linked since October 2023.
Manganiello, meanwhile, made his red carpet debut with television reporter Caitlin O’Connor in December 2023.
In March, Us Weekly reported the couple has plans to get engaged and start a family.
