Modern Family star, Sofia Vergara split from husband, Joe Manganiello in July 2023 after seven years of marriage.
Seven months later, Sofia spoke out about the reason for their divorce.
Sofia and Joe separated in 2023.
(Getty)Sofia Vergara, 57, spoke to Spanish newspaper, El País about her relationship with fellow-actor Joe Manganiello, 47, revealing that the couple weren’t on the same page about growing a 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,” Sofia explained.
“I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore.”
Sofia already has one child who she shares with her previous husband, Joe Gonzalez, and she revealed she’s not in a place where she wants more kids.
“I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother. So, if love comes along, he has to come with [his own] children. I’m almost in menopause; it’s the natural way of things,” she added.
“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; that’s what I have to do,” Sofia shared.
Sofia and her son, Manolo Gonzalez Vergara.
(Getty)However, Joe has now spoken out about Sofia’s comments, and labelled them as “simply not true”.
“There’s been a lot said in the press about me wanting a family,” The actor told Men’s Journal in July 2024.
“We did try to have a family for the first year and a half. 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 OK.’
“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.”
Joe then admitted that he did want to have kids but that “wasn’t inevitably why everything ended. It’s because two people grew apart, and sometimes that happens.”
He continued, “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.”
The pair started dating in 2014.
(Getty)Sofia and Joe announced their divorce via a joint statement in July 2023, sharing that after seven years of marriage they were going their separate ways.
“As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect for our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives,” the statement wrote.
Two days after their announcement, Joe officially filed for divorce.
Sofia and Joe met through Sofia’s Modern Family co-star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson in May 2014. At the time, Sofia was engaged to her ex-partner, Nick Loeb.
A few weeks after they first met, Sofia announced her split from Nick and Joe promptly asked Jesse for her number.
Sofia officially confirmed their relationship in August 2014, telling PEOPLE, “I’m very happy romantically. It couldn’t be better!”
The pair moved in together in November 2014, and then swiftly became engaged in December – just six months after they started dating.
“When you know, you know, and we knew right away — like, very quickly,” Joe said of their quick engagement.
Less than one year later, on 22 November 2015, Sofia and Joe officially tied the knot in Florida in a lavish affair.
In the years after their wedding, Sofia and Joe attended countless events and awards ceremonies together and even starred alongside each other in a movie, Bottom of the 9th, in 2017.
The couple ultimately called it quits in July 2023, and both parties have since moved on with new partners. Joe has been linked to actress Caitlin O’Connor, while Sofia has confirmed her relationship with orthopaedic surgeon Dr Justin Saliman.
