Joe Manganiello shares hospital photo after ‘amputation’ during seven-year health battle
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Joe Manganiello has shared photos from his seven-year health battle, including his time in hospital after the amputation of his large intestine.
The 49-year-old Magic Mike star offered a “trigger warning” as he shared a look at the health battles documented in his recently released memoir, Bloodlines.
Manganiello shared this image from after his large intestine amputation. Instagram/@joemanganiello
In the memoir, Manganiello revealed he underwent multiple colonoscopies before having emergency surgery to remove a portion of his intestines in 2016.
“In the days following the amputation of my large intestine, my weight began to plummet,” Manganiello said alongside a photo of him in hospital.
“I would ultimately lose a total of 60 pounds (27 kilograms) during the two weeks following the surgery. If you zoom in, you can see the top of my first ostomy bag creeping up over the sheets.”
Manganiello also shared photos of his abdomen after surgery to remove his ostomy bag and “what was left of my digestive tract was reconnected”.
Finally, a photo of his face was “an example of the multitude of skin conditions” he faced during his seven years of illness.
“My skin, an immune organ, was stricken with just about every condition known to man, usually in combination,” he said.
On CBS Mornings, Manganiello recalled the moment he collapsed on a film set led to his amputation.
“After about a year of feeling these mystery symptoms, I went into the hospital for two months straight and, at the end of my stay, they wound up having to remove my entire large intestine to save my life,” he told Gayle King.
“They had split me open. My entire large intestine had turned to pus, and it was about to explode.
“They took it out, and the surgery left me with an ostomy bag. And in the wake of that, I lost 60 pounds in two weeks. I couldn’t walk. My eye went cross-eyed. I lost my voice. I had five catheters.”
The actor also shared an image of his skin during his health struggles. Instagram/@joemanganiello
Manganiello said he had to credit his ex-wife, Sofia Vergara, with saving his life.
“They had to call her as my next of kin and give her options of what she thought I would want done to me while I was unconscious. She chose the right one, and it bought me time,” he said.
“It didn’t solve the problem. The doctors still had no idea what was causing this, how to treat it. But it bought me enough time.”
Manganiello began experiencing symptoms shortly after their 2015 wedding, including excruciating abdominal pain that left him unable to walk, blistering rashes, headaches and fatigue.
Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello split in 2023 after seven years of marriage. nna\april.glover
He has never received a formal diagnosis.
Manganiello is now symptom-free and preparing to marry fiancee Caitlin O’Connor, whom he has been dating since September 2023.
“For seven years, I thought I was going to be dead the next week. The world has opened back up to me,” he told People.
