Originally appeared on E! Online
Joe Manganiello is sharing his side of the story when it comes to his divorce from Sofía Vergara.
While the "Modern Family" actress claimed the couple split in 2023 after seven years of marriage because Manganiello wanted children and she did not, the "True Blood" star said the narrative was "simply not true."
"We did try to have a family for the first year and a half," Manganiello explained to Men's Journal in an interview published July 16. "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.'"
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The 47-year-old added, "And I swore to her that I would never leave if it didn't work out. And I didn't."
According to Manganiello — who recently debuted his romance with Caitlin O'Connor — the real reason the couple split actually boiled down to the fact that "two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens."
"To be painted as if I had some sort of midlife crisis," he continued, "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." Fierce
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However, Vergara — who is currently dating orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman — previously shared that kids were a dealbreaker when discussing her divorce.
"My marriage broke up because my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids and I didn't want to be an old mom," the 52-year-old told Spanish newspaper El País in January. "I feel it's not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that's not for me anymore."
Vergara explained that after giving birth to son Manolo, 32 — who she shares with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez — when she was 19, she now feels more ready to be a grandmother that try her hand at being a mom again.
"When my son becomes a dad, let him bring the baby to me for a while and then I'll give it back to him and go on with my life," she said. "That's what I have to do."
