Joe Manganiello Reveals Seven-Year Health Nightmare Led Him to Lick Goat Gland and Seek Shaman Healing

Joe Manganiello has revealed that a seven-year health battle that left him fearing for his life drove him to seek unconventional healing. The process included a bizarre ritual in Cuba involving a goat's skull.

The True Blood and Magic Mike actor, 49, recounts the ordeal in his upcoming memoir, Bloodlines, describing years of severe pain, hospital stays, and treatments that failed to provide answers. He says the illness nearly killed him and took a toll on his marriage to actress Sofía Vergara.

The Health Battle That Nearly Killed the Actor

Manganiello says his symptoms began shortly after he married Vergara in 2015. He experienced debilitating abdominal pain, fevers, blistering rashes, headaches, fatigue, and rectal bleeding, while doctors struggled to identify the cause.

He reportedly lost around 60lb (27kg) and underwent numerous colonoscopies during the seven-year ordeal. Medication used to treat nerve pain, Crohn's disease, and colitis failed to help.

In 2016, his condition deteriorated so severely that doctors performed emergency surgery. In an excerpt from his memoir published by PEOPLE, Manganiello recalls believing he might not survive the night before surgeons found what was wrong.

'They found it. My entire large intestine had turned to pus and was about to explode,' he wrote. Doctors removed his entire large intestine during a ten-hour operation, leaving him with an ostomy bag. He later underwent further surgery to reconnect his digestive tract.

Search For Healing Led to Goat-Gland Ritual

Manganiello's search for answers eventually took him beyond conventional medicine. In Cuba, he says, a medicine man had him lick the pituitary gland inside a goat's skull as part of an alternative healing ritual.

He does not credit that experience with curing him. Instead, Manganiello says he later found a sense of healing through a shaman in Santa Monica, California, who suggested that generational trauma was contributing to his suffering.

The actor connected that idea to his Armenian family history. He says his great-grandmother lost nine children to genocide in Armenia, while his grandmother had lupus. 'Whatever chains there were to the past suffering of my ancestors, they were completely broken,' Manganiello said.

He now says he is symptom-free and no longer takes medication. However, he never received a conclusive diagnosis for the illness, and his account does not establish that the ritual or shamanic treatment medically cured him.

Manganiello's Claims About Ex-Wife Sofía Vergara

In his memoir, Manganiello claims Vergara refused to hug him when he asked and ridiculed his Chihuahua, Bubbles. He adopted the dog in 2019 while experiencing suicidal thoughts during his health battle.

The couple married in November 2015 and announced their separation in July 2023. Vergara previously attributed their split to differing views on having children, saying Manganiello wanted to become a father while she did not want to become an older mother.

Manganiello says his illness also changed his outlook on parenthood. After unsuccessful IVF attempts and discussions about egg donation, he feared he might die and leave Vergara raising a child who was not biologically hers.

These are Manganiello's recollections of their marriage. The published excerpts did not include a response from Vergara to his claims.

Actor Looks Ahead After Health Ordeal

Manganiello is now engaged to actress Caitlin O'Connor, whom he met after filing for divorce in 2023. He says he is open to the possibility of having children in the future.

'For seven years I thought I was going to be dead the next week,' he says. 'The world has opened back up to me.' His memoir, Bloodlines, is scheduled for release on 13 October and details his career, health crisis and personal life.