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All The Reasons Sofia Vergara And Joe Manganiello’s Divorce Isn’t A Surprise – The List

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello have parted ways, just a few years shy of completing a decade together. The celebrity couple, who tied the knot back in 2015, announced their decision to the world in a short media statement that didn’t make public the grounds for their separation. By and large, the news of Vergara and Manganiello’s divorce came as a thunderbolt to many online, with social media users expressing confusion over the end of one of their favorite celebrity relationships. But for fans who were closely attuned to Vergara and Manganiello’s lives, the signs of an impending separation had seemingly begun to surface in recent times. Inadvertent clues were said to be hidden across the duo’s social media channels — in everything, from vacation pictures to birthday celebrations. The divorce announcement gave them further wind. 

Among the top reasons Vergara and Manganiello’s divorce caused distress to fans online was that the couple had been the vision of true love since 2014. An exhibit: Manganiello said on “Conan” that for the first anniversary of their first date, he presented a self-made book to Vergara with texts, pictures, and special moments he had saved from the couple’s time together. Vergara, on her part, never ran out of compliments for Manganiello, whom she thought “too handsome” to even date at one point (via Vanity Fair). While such swoon-worthy chronicles definitely took the fore in their relationship, here are all the reasons Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s divorce isn’t a surprise.

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello had seven years of marriage behind them

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Over seven years of marriage came crashing down when actor couple Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello announced their decision to part ways in mid-July, 2023. In a statement to Page Six, the pair made news of their divorce public, while maintaining that they “love and care for one another very much.” While the duo didn’t dwell on the reasons behind their split, a source told People that it came following differences over their future together: “They have been growing apart for some time now and tried to resolve things, but they are focused on different areas of their lives.” While the bombshell confirmation of Vergara and Manganiello’s divorce certainly caused shockwaves online, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. 

For days, sleuthing fans had noticed Manganiello’s unusual absence from Vergara’s active social media, where he previously featured rather regularly. The final appearance Manganiello made on Vergara’s Instagram was in June, 2023 — that too, in a throwback picture from the couple’s visit to Italy. Vergara’s feed is now radically different from how it was in 2015, when she blitzed it with dreamy pictures from her fairytale wedding to Manganiello. 

The pair reportedly met in 2014 at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Just days later, a romantic opportunity landed in Manganiello’s lap, when news came of Vergara breaking off her engagement to then-fiancé Nick Loeb. Manganiello reached out to the new single and, one six-month whirlwind courtship later, the pair were engaged. 

Sofia once joked it was suspicious that the couple didn’t have any problems

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Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s seven-year relationship was as romantic as it could get. So much so that the couple’s rocky start became a long-forgotten fact buried in the depths of their love story. When Manganiello and Vergara first linked up, the latter was fresh out of a broken engagement and hesitant to jump into another affair. Speaking to Haute Living in 2015, Manganiello recalled: “Our first date was her giving me every reason why it would never work out. … She was trying to talk herself out of going there.” Vergara, the older of the two by nearly five years, apparently even cited the couple’s age difference as a reason why their pairing was doomed. Despite the initial show of resistance, she knew there was something there and gave in quickly. 

Even before the couple tied the knot, Vergara pointed out an odd fact about her relationship with the “Magic Mike” star. It was almost too easy for her to live with Manganiello, she told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show (via Latin Times). “I mean, we have no problems. I cannot believe it. I always tell him, ‘This is very suspicious!'” Vergara said in good humor. The couple’s bicker-free streak even stretched into their COVID-19 quarantine, with Vergara telling People that they hadn’t had a single fight. 

Talk of the couple having a baby together was seemingly inconclusive

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Throughout their seven-year-long alliance, Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello didn’t welcome any children together. Although, Vergara’s son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara (from her first marriage to Joe Gonzalez) remained a constant presence in the couple’s life — even walking his mom down the aisle as she wed Manganiello in 2015! While there is no explicit indication of the subject of shared parenthood being a factor in the couple’s divorce, there have been moments in the past that hinted at the couple not entirely being on the same page regarding children.

Questions around the couple’s decision to have children began making headlines months before their wedding, with reports claiming that they were deliberating over using a surrogate and had even begun the screening process. Vergara, who was in her 40s at the time, told Harper’s Bazaar Arabia that embracing motherhood again wasn’t a burning priority: “Well, I don’t think you can think about it seriously when you’re already 43 years old. It is what it is and I cannot just expect anything natural any more.”

Manganiello — whose marriage to Vergara was also his first — was apparently more enthusiastic about having children of their own. Opening up to Net-A-Porter, Vergara publicly echoed her then-husband’s desire to become a father. While she said she wasn’t opposed to having another child, she emphasized that the younger Manganiello “wants kids so we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do.” 

Rumors of a split haunted the couple even back in 2017

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Rumors of Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello splitting up had been hanging low in the days leading up to their official divorce announcement in July, 2023. While the speculation this time turned out to be accurate, it wasn’t so the first time around in 2017, when the couple was first hit by gossip surrounding their marriage. Two years into marital bliss, the actor couple made the cover of the controversial tabloid Star, which claimed that there was trouble in paradise for Vergara and Manganiello. 

The magazine made a front-page declaration of “Sofia caught cheating in Rome,” naming Andrea Iervolino — one of the producers of her film “Bent” — as her new love interest. In no uncertain terms, Vergara called out the magazine on Instagram for spreading disinformation and accused the editor of editing out her wedding ring. Manganiello followed suit with an even stronger statement on his social media: “Big surprise everyone but Star created a fake story and then photo shopped my wife’s engagement ring off of her finger in order to sell magazines,” he wrote alongside a picture of the cover, urging readers against buying the magazine. 

Infidelity had anyway been off the cards for the couple in love — courtesy of Nick Loeb, Vergara’s fiancé before Manganiello. According to tabloid gossip, Loeb had found himself in the thick of cheating rumors, and the incident had allegedly prompted Vergara to issue a clear-worded warning to Manganiello against infidelity. 

Joe was missing in action from a close friend’s wedding last year

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While Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s divorce was only recently confirmed, fans had raised suspicion of impending trouble as far back as 2022, when the “True Blood” actor failed to accompany his ex-wife to a close friend’s wedding. Vergara’s “Modern Family” co-star Sarah Hyland got hitched to her partner Wells Adams in August of that year, at a dreamy vineyard ceremony in California. The star-studded event saw many of Hyland’s fellow sitcom cast members in attendance, including Julie Bowen, Nolan Gould, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who officiated the wedding). Vergara, who attended with her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, told People: “It was magical getting to celebrate her special day with her and with everyone.” 

While the mini “Modern Family” reunion at Hyland’s wedding was a high talking point among fans, Manganiello’s absence from the celebrations didn’t go unnoticed. Theories flew as to why Vergara’s presumed plus-one didn’t make it to the nuptials, but, according to the Colombian actor, the explanation wasn’t all that deep. Manganiello had apparently been away for work. “We’re both always doing something so we understand it,” Vergara told Extra. In a past interview with Ocean Drive magazine, Manganiello — the more lowkey partner of the two – discussed the heavy price and pressure of being part of a celebrity couple, saying Vergara was “the only woman on the planet that [he] was willing to go through all of that for” (via ET Online). 

The couple recently put their Beverly Hills home on the market

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In what was perhaps one of the most telling signs of Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s marriage switching gears, the celebrity couple listed their lavish Beverly Hills mansion in the weeks leading up to their official divorce announcement. The property — sprawling over half an acre in one of California’s most exclusive, star-studded neighborhoods — was originally purchased by the “Modern Family” star for a hefty sum of $10.6 million back in 2014. The palatial Italian-style residence housed seven bedrooms and every other kind of celebrity fancy — from a theater to a sauna-inclusive gym, and a wine cellar. It was only fitting for someone of Vergara’s stature, given that she was at the time the highest-paid female actor on television, topping Forbes’ list for the third consecutive year with $37 million. 

In 2020, Vergara bought a larger second house, together with Manganiello, in the surrounding Beverly Park area. This luxury pad, purchased at a whopping $26 million, previously belonged to baseball icon Barry Bonds. Two years after the couple made this splurge, Vergara’s old Beverly Hills property showed up on market listings in 2022 at the asking price of $19.6 million; TMZ reported at the time that the couple was focused on furnishing their newer purchase. It wasn’t long before the mansion was taken off the market. Curiously enough, Dirt reported in May 2023 that Vergara’s high-end property reappeared on market listings, with a shaved-off price of approximately $18 million. 

Sofia seemed to have celebrated 4th of July without Joe

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On a family-centered holiday like the Fourth of July, the absence of a core member from the celebrations becomes more pronounced and therefore easier to notice. So when Sofia Vergara shared snaps from her 2023 Independence Day jubilee on Instagram, fans were quick to observe that Joe Manganiello seemed to be missing from her photo album. The Colombian native went all out with patriotic festivities, festooning her home with traditional red, white, and blue decor. Several of her loved ones — including her son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara — were in attendance at the do, with the seeming exception of her ex-husband. This little detail stood out, especially considering that Manganiello had been a somewhat regular feature in Vergara’s Fourth of July snaps in the past. 

The year Vergara and Manganiello wed, the “Hot Pursuit” actor gave fans a glimpse into her festivities with her new hubby, who was seen working hard at an outdoor grill. “Serious 4th of July business ❤️❤️happy Independence day!!!!” she captioned the post. In 2021, the former couple jet-setted off on a tropical vacation with their family dog Bubbles, to ring in the Fourth of July a little differently than usual. On that account, Manganiello’s no-show at Vergara’s celebrations this year was hard to miss. In fact, the national holiday wasn’t the only event Manganiello skipped. The “Spider-Man” actor was also nowhere to be seen at the launch party of Vergara’s cosmetics brand Toty in June. 

Joe’s birthday wish for his ex-wife was a little too dry

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Birthday wishes on social media are serious business, but it would appear that Joe Manganiello failed to fathom just how much. The “Rampage” star perhaps didn’t fully estimate the consequences a lukewarm Instagram post could have, when he marked his ex-wife Sofia Vergara’s 51st birthday with what fans thought was the driest possible wish. “¡¡¡Feliz Cumpleaños Sofía!!!” he wrote, alongside a seemingly old picture of the couple. Netizens — perplexed by Manganiello’s curt articulation for the woman he once romantically proposed to “on one knee in Spanish with the sun going down,” as told to Haute Living — immediately got to work in the comments. One investigative fan’s deduction pertinently pointed out: “Something is off. Cold message for her and has two stories about his dog’s birthday. And sofia has not even said thank you.” 

While people predicting a divorce on Manganiello’s birthday post managed to hit the bull’s eye this time, a quick scroll through the actor’s feed is enough to indicate that he doesn’t seem to be a man of grand expression on Instagram, and that a plain, undecorated wish wasn’t entirely atypical of him. One of his other recent updates from a day out with Vergara and their dog Bubbles was only descriptively captioned: “Family outing in NYC” (via Instagram). Valentine’s Day was a similarly simple affair, except for the addendum of “I love you Sofía” that Manganiello attached to his post. 

Sofia’s trip to Italy had fans suspecting a split

Instagram

Knowingly or unknowingly, people leave clues about the innermost details of their life strewn across social media — in dreamy holiday pictures or innocuous remarks about lemons. Days before Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s separation became official news, fans of the “Modern Family” star had been alerted to something being amiss in the couple’s marital affair, thanks to her buzzing Instagram feed. Vergara had been sharing a string of lively snaps from a vacation she undertook to Italy with her friends, to ring in her 51st birthday, with Manganiello missing from the milestone celebrations. What aroused the most speculation was a post featuring the Colombian bombshell, which she cryptically captioned: “When life gives u lemons u come to Italy to squeeze them😚❤️☀️🇮🇹” (via Instagram). 

The comment section under Vergara’s post was flooded with questions over Manganiello’s absence from the holiday and their marriage ending. Even in the face of her divorce becoming global knowledge and the internet imploding over it, Vergara continued giving her online family glimpses into her Italian escape — and looked fabulous while doing it. She particularly raved about the town of Ravello, tucked away in the luxurious locales of the Amalfi Coast, expressing a desire to live there. Vergara’s merrymaking — which divided opinions online — won support from her friend and fellow “Modern Family” alum Julie Bowen, who commented under some sizzling swimsuit pictures of Vergara: “This is what single and 🔥 looks like!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”.