Manganiello later challenged it.
He said they discussed children early in the relationship and tried to start a family during approximately the first year and a half. He denied giving Vergara an ultimatum and said the idea that he left solely because she would not have a child was not accurate.
His memoir adds another layer.
Manganiello says his illness eventually changed his thinking about fatherhood. He feared becoming seriously ill again or dying and leaving Vergara to raise a child—possibly a child born through surrogacy—without him.
From his perspective, abandoning the plan was not simply acceptance of her preference. It was connected to the uncertainty of his survival.
These accounts are not entirely impossible to reconcile.
The couple may initially have tried to have a child. Vergara may later have decided she no longer wanted to pursue motherhood. Manganiello’s illness may have changed his willingness to continue. By the time of the divorce, both may have understood the issue differently.
Private family-planning conversations can evolve over years.
“Two People Grew Apart”
Before the memoir, Manganiello offered a less dramatic explanation for the divorce.
He said two people had grown apart.
That phrase is often treated as empty celebrity language, but it may be the most accurate summary.
Major relationships rarely end because of one isolated disagreement. Illness, unsuccessful family planning, changes in career, emotional exhaustion, differing coping styles, and years of unresolved resentment can combine until the relationship no longer feels sustainable.
A memoir naturally identifies meaningful turning points. That does not mean one turning point caused everything.
The public may prefer a single answer: children, illness, lack of affection, or another person. Real marriages are usually more complicated.
The absence of a simple villain does not make the pain less real.
The Spiritual Search for Answers
Manganiello’s search eventually extended beyond conventional medicine.
In Bloodlines, he describes speaking with spiritual healers and shamans who offered explanations involving curses, ancestral suffering, and emotional or spiritual misalignment.
One healer reportedly suggested that someone connected to Vergara’s past had placed a curse that affected Manganiello. Another interpreted his illness through generational trauma and questioned whether his marriage aligned with his life path.
These claims have generated some of the most sensational headlines surrounding the book.
There is no reliable evidence that a curse caused Manganiello’s illness.
The comments reflect what spiritual practitioners told him, not medical findings. They should not be repeated as established facts about Vergara, her former partners, or the origin of an autoimmune disease.
Manganiello’s willingness to consider such explanations is understandable in context. People who suffer for years without adequate answers may explore almost any framework that offers meaning or hope.
But empathy for that desperation should not turn a supernatural theory into a factual accusation.
Ancestral Trauma and Armenian History
The title Bloodlines points toward a theme larger than celebrity marriage.
Manganiello has spoken about investigating his family history, including the survival of an Armenian great-grandmother during genocide. He connects this exploration with his effort to understand inherited pain, identity, and resilience.
Research does examine how trauma can affect families across generations through behavior, attachment, stress responses, family narratives, and possibly biological mechanisms. However, “generational trauma” is often used loosely in popular culture.
It cannot be assumed that a particular ancestor’s experience directly caused a specific autoimmune illness in a descendant decades later.
For Manganiello, the value of this framework may be psychological and narrative rather than diagnostic. It gave him a way to place his suffering within a family story of survival.
A person can find spiritual meaning in ancestry without claiming that the meaning constitutes laboratory proof.
Did a Shaman Cure Him?
Manganiello says he is now in remission, no longer requires the same medication, and has been free of major symptoms for more than three years.
He credits spiritual work as an important part of his recovery.
That is his interpretation.
It would be unsafe to present the story as evidence that shamanic treatment cures autoimmune disease. His medical journey included emergency surgery, removal of diseased tissue, ongoing professional care, medication, time, and later reconstructive procedures.
Remission can occur for multiple reasons. Without complete medical records and specialist evaluation, outsiders cannot determine the relative contribution of treatment, natural disease course, surgery, lifestyle, stress reduction, or spiritual practice.
Readers experiencing similar symptoms should not stop medication or replace medical care with an unverified treatment because a celebrity describes a positive outcome.
The responsible conclusion is narrower: Manganiello found emotional or spiritual value in the experience, and he reports that his health improved.
The Memoir’s Claims About Vergara
The most controversial passages concern the emotional climate of the marriage.