Joe Manganiello shares bizarre ‘voodoo curse’ theory after mystery illness and marriage split
US actor Joe Manganiello has opened up about his seven-year battle with a mysterious autoimmune illness that led to emergency surgery to “amputate” part of his intestine.
The True Blood and Magic Mike star shared graphic images of his medical ordeal on Instagram, prefacing the post with a “trigger warning”.
The post comes after he detailed his health struggles in the opening chapter of his new memoir, Bloodlines.
In the first image, Manganiello is sitting shirtless in a hospital chair, days after surgery.
“In the days following the amputation of my large intestine, my weight began to plummet,” he wrote.
“I would ultimately lose a total of 60lbs (27kg) 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.”
An ostomy bag, also known as a pouch, is a waterproof medical device attached to the abdomen to collect waste through a surgically created opening called a stoma.
The second image shows Manganiello’s abdomen following reconstructive surgery, known as an anastomosis, in which the ostomy bag was removed and the remaining sections of his digestive tract were reconnected.
The third image is a close-up of the actor’s face, covered in small red spots and a rash.
“An example of the multitude of skin conditions I was plagued with during the seven years I was sick. My skin, an immune organ, was stricken with just about every condition known to man, usually in combination,” he wrote.
In Bloodlines, Manganiello reveals he spent seven years secretly struggling with the unexplained illness, enduring debilitating symptoms and searching for answers.
According to People, the actor details how the condition led to major surgery and contributed to the breakdown of his marriage to actress Sofia Vergara.
Manganiello rose to fame playing werewolf Alcide Herveaux in the vampire series True Blood in 2010, before starring in Magic Mike.
He married Modern Family star Vergara in 2015, but his health began to deteriorate soon after their wedding.
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