Manganiello frames his survival and return to Hollywood as a testament to sheer willpower, using the Deathstroke role as the ultimate motivation to claw back from the brink of death.
Insiders whisper that the marriage strain was palpable; Sofia Vergara reportedly screamed 'Are you insane?' when he announced the job, highlighting the disconnect between his career ambition and her trauma from nearly losing him.
Manganiello lost 59 pounds (from 235 to 176) due to an autoimmune disease. He wore an ostomy bag for an unknown duration after his entire large intestine was removed. The memoir 'Bloodlines' is out October 13 via Avid Reader Press.
This isn't just a health scare; it's a raw look at how Hollywood machismo clashes with medical reality. Manganiello hid a stoma bag to land a villain role, proving he’d literally bleed for his career.
Joe Manganiello has finally spilled the guts—literally—about the near-death experience that nearly erased his career and tested his marriage to Sofia Vergara. In his upcoming memoir, *Bloodlines*, the *True Blood* star recounts collapsing on the set of *Six* in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2016. At 39, Manganiello was at the peak of his fame, known for his hulking physique as Alcide the werewolf and Big Dick Richie in *Magic Mike*.
But a mysterious autoimmune disease was already ravaging his intestines, shrinking him from a monstrous 235 pounds to a skeletal 176. He describes the horror of "The Night in Hell," where rectal blood sprayed across his bathroom floor, staining the walls and sink. The next morning, surgeons removed his entire large intestine, which had turned to pus and was on the verge of rupturing, which would have killed him instantly from sepsis.
The drama didn't stop at the hospital doors. As Manganiello struggled to wean himself off painkillers and adjust to life with an ostomy bag, his agent called with a life-changing offer: Ben Affleck wanted him for the role of Deathstroke in the upcoming *Batman* movie. Manganiello, desperate to reclaim his identity, hid his condition from Affleck during their meeting.
Vergara, however, wasn't fooled. In a shocking excerpt, he quotes her shouting, "Are you insane? You can’t do this movie!" She had watched him transform from the strongest man she knew into a patient who could barely move, and she was traumatized by the fear of his impending death.
For Manganiello, the role wasn't just a job; it was the "carrot" dangling in front of him to lead him out of his nightmare. The physical toll was immense. Manganiello details the humiliating reality of living without a colon, where waste exited his body minutes after eating.
He was forced to sleep on his side because lying on his back caused his stoma to fire like a geyser, leaking onto his abdomen. The situation came to a head during a flight to Heathrow for the movie's pre-production. In the middle of the night, his ostomy bag leaked, soaking his underwear.
He had to swap the bag in the tiny airplane bathroom, only for the stoma to shoot onto the mirror and counter. After cleaning up the mess, he looked in the mirror and told himself, "You’re a tough son of a bitch... You’re a bad dude.
I love you." It was a moment of pure, gritty determination. The fitting for the Deathstroke suit was another hurdle. Manganiello had to fast for 18 hours to ensure his digestive system was empty before donning the three-layer spandex and latex suit.
But the real challenge came when wardrobe staff handed him a pair of tiny, bright blue briefs for a 3D body scan. They were sized for a man much smaller than him, and Manganiello panicked about how they would fit over his scars and ostomy bag. He had to act demure, a stark contrast to his reputation as Hollywood's sex symbol.
The memoir, out October 13 from Avid Reader Press, reveals that while the marriage began to fall apart under the weight of his illness and his obsessive return to work, the role of Deathstroke gave him the purpose he needed to survive. It’s a story of resilience, but also of the high cost of hiding your pain for the sake of a paycheck.
