Joe Manganiello details ‘brutal side effects’ of secret health battle

Joe Manganiello revealed more about his alarming health battle that he kept secret for almost a decade.

The “True Blood” alum, in an Instagram video Wednesday, said he “suffered in silence battling a deadly mystery illness” he only told a small circle of loved ones about. He recalled seeing “the best doctors in the world,” whom he said couldn’t figure out what started his condition.

“All their attempts to treat it with high-powered biological drugs only exacerbated my symptoms and then unlocked a host of brutal side effects that winded up plaguing me for years,” Manganiello said.

“And then in attempts to buy myself time,” he continued, “I underwent very serious operations and procedures that mutilated parts of my body and left me so weak at times that I couldn’t stand up or walk.”

The “Magic Mike” alum, 49, also shared that he spent months “heavily medicated while dealing with excruciating bouts of chronic pain.” He noted that his upcoming memoir, “Bloodlines,” out Oct. 13, documents his 10-year search for answers as well as a deep dive into his family’s history.

“Maybe what happened to me wasn’t random,” he says. “And that in order to heal, my mind, my body, my spirit all had to align and I needed to become open to some really radical and unorthodox techniques and ideas that lie beyond the boundaries of western medicine.”

Manganiello shared a supportive message for those who might be going through a similar situation.

“If you’re out there and you’re suffering, there’s hope,” he said.

In a synopsis for “Bloodlines,” Manganiello shares that he dealt with “a cascade of autoimmune-related illnesses” that attacked his thyroid, digestive system, skin, lungs and eyes.

Over the course of seven years, he revealed that he dealt with “chronic pain, a life-saving organ amputation, existential crisis and a prolonged fight for survival that left doctors with few answers and no clear explanation.”

Manganiello ended up turning to alternative medicine like “shamans, pagan rituals, ancient myths, long-lost family records and the rebirth of his own spirituality” to help treat his illness.

The former “Deal or No Deal Island” host also did intensive research into his own family genealogy and discovered ancestors who survived the Armenian genocide and others who lived with chronic illness.

Manganiello has not revealed the years his health battle occurred.

He was previously married to actress Sofía Vergara, 53, from 2015 to 2024. The “Modern Family” alum said in January 2024 that the two split because she didn’t want to have kids with him and be “an old mom.”

“I feel it’s not fair to the baby,” she told El País.

Vergara is already a mom to her son, 34-year-old Manolo, whom she shares with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez.

Manganiello is now engaged to actress Caitlin O’Connor, 36, which the couple announced last October.