Joe Manganiello has pulled back the curtain on the illness that nearly killed him. On October 15, 2026, the actor posted three graphic hospital photos to Instagram under a “TRIGGER WARNING” label, Just Jared reported, images that accompany the first chapter of his new memoir “Bloodlines.” The photos show the aftermath of major intestinal surgery and the skin conditions he lived with during a seven-year ordeal that, according to the book, hollowed out his marriage to Sofía Vergara.
What the photos show
The first image shows Manganiello in a hospital bed following the removal of his large intestine. “In the days following the amputation of my large intestine, my weight began to plummet,” he wrote in the caption, per Just Jared. “I would ultimately lose a total of 60 lbs during the two weeks following the surgery.” TMZ also reported that the weight loss happened over those two weeks.
The second photo, Just Jared reported, shows his abdomen after what Manganiello described as a “reconnection/take down surgery or anastomosis.” That procedure removed the ostomy bag he had been using and reconnected his digestive tract.
The third image documents the skin problems that accompanied the illness. “An example of the multitude of skin conditions I was plagued with during the seven years I was sick,” he wrote, according to Just Jared. “My skin, an immune organ, was stricken with just about every condition known to man, usually in combination.”
The illness no one could name
“Bloodlines” was released on October 13, 2026, and Hollywood Life reported that it details Manganiello’s seven-year fight with a mysterious autoimmune condition. The symptoms began shortly after his November 2015 wedding to Vergara in Palm Beach, Florida, and affected his digestive tract, skin, thyroid, eyes, and lungs.
A later surgery reconnected his digestive system.
Despite years of treatment, Manganiello never received a conclusive diagnosis, TMZ reported. “I was getting sicker and sicker,” he told People.
The lowest point came with thoughts of ending his life. Manganiello revealed in the memoir and in his conversation with People, as relayed by Hollywood Life, that he considered suicide during his illness and had to give away his gun. He credits his chihuahua, Bubbles, with pulling him through.
“I had to give my gun away because I kept thinking about it, and then the dog came,” he wrote in “Bloodlines,” in an excerpt published by People. “I went from being the patient to the caretaker.”
The marriage and the memoir
Manganiello and Vergara married in November 2015. They announced their separation in July 2023 through a joint statement to Page Six, telling the outlet, “We have made the difficult decision to divorce.” Manganiello filed citing irreconcilable differences, and E! Online reported the divorce was finalized in April 2024.
In January 2024, Vergara told the Spanish newspaper El País that the split came down to children: Manganiello wanted them, and she did not want to be an older mother.
“Bloodlines” offers a different account. In the memoir, Manganiello writes that his marriage to Vergara had “become devoid of any emotionality whatsoever” as his illness progressed, according to People, with the passage circulated by multiple outlets. The book disputes Vergara’s version of events, and Manganiello addressed that directly in his interview with People. “There were things said and printed about me that were false,” he said.
He has not accused Vergara of anything in the material he has shared publicly so far. What he describes is a marriage that went quiet while he was getting sicker, a portrait that sits uneasily beside the children-focused explanation Vergara gave in 2024. Readers will have to turn to the book itself for the fuller picture.
Where he is now
Manganiello has moved into a new chapter in his personal life as well.
The hospital photos he shared this week are difficult to look at, and he labeled them accordingly. They are also, by his own account, evidence of a recovery he did not expect to have.
“I can’t believe I’m alive,” he told People, in a quote carried by The Daily Beast. “I feel like I was reborn.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
