Not all beautiful love stories can stand the test of time, as recent events clearly show. I mean Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello, and Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez? This is a weird week for all of us. Love, where art thou flame (I’m pretty sure this is not Shakespeare.) Anyway, as one of our most beautiful couples are now uncoupling, let’s take a look back at the times when their love was bright enough to make even the cynic believe in it.
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Joe Manganiello Once Said Trusting Sofia Vergara Was Easy
If “trust” was all love needed to survive till eternity, I guess Manganiello and Vergara may not be calling it quits after seven years of marriage. Manganiello, 46, is a trust machine when it applies to Vergara, 51.
Years before the couple announced that they’re calling it quits, Manganiello talked to PEOPLE about how he knew he and Vergara were meant to be together.
“I knew pretty quickly that I could trust her, and she knew pretty quickly that she could trust me,” Manganiello said in 2020. “And we’re both the kind of people who are capable of putting the other person ahead of ourselves. I was capable of putting her wishes ahead of mine, whatever they were, and she was capable of doing the same. Once you have that, you don’t let go of it.”
In 2014, the actor was introduced to the “Modern Family” star via her costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which Manganiello attended as a guest of PEOPLE’s then-Editor in chief, Jess Cagle.
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At the time, Vergara was engaged to Nick Loeb, but called off the engagement weeks after the event, prompting Manganiello to ask Ferguson, 47, for the actress’s number.
“My instincts about her were right,” Manganiello said of his decision to know the actress on a more personal level.
At the time of their first date, Vergara was in the process of filming “Hot Pursuit,” and he had to fly in to New Orleans to meet her.
“I said, ‘I’m coming to New Orleans. If you’re not available, I’m just gonna do some sightseeing, but I’m gonna be there and if you’re free I can take you out,'” Manganiello said on The Jess Cagle Show in 2020. “She said, ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘I’ll see you next week.'”
Joe Manganiello On What He And Sofia Vergara Did During the Early Stages of the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic cleaned the slate for so many people and we suddenly started having more time on our hands. In the Manganiello household, they used their newly obtained free time to catch up on epic movies they previously didn’t have time to get around to.
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“Sofia had never seen Mad Men, which I saw every episode of and was obsessed with, so we went through all of Mad Men,” Manganiello said to PEOPLE. “Then she had never seen The Sopranos and I was like, ‘That’s the greatest show that’s ever been made that kicked off all of the great cable shows. It paved the way. You have to see these.’ So I watched The Sopranos again. She thought it was brilliant.”
Last week, Vergara celebrated her 51st birthday in Italy with friends. Notably absent was Manganiello, who, however, wished her a happy birthday over on Instagram.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Sofia Vergara right now. Come back here often for all Sofia Vergara spoilers, news, and updates.