Inside Sofia Vergara's Relationship History
Most people know Sofía Vergara for the role of Gloria on "Modern Family," which she played for over a decade and more than 200 episodes. Early on in the show's run, she recognized what a special gig it was. "I so much enjoy playing her. This is the role of my life," she told Parade in 2011. The success of the series put Vergara in the public eye and fans all over the world fell in love with her... which meant her personal life became a hot topic of discussion.
Celebrity gossip magazines are all about romantic stories, relationship drama, fairytale endings, and, of course, rumors. Sofía Vergara has given the tabloids a little bit of everything. There have been unconfirmed reports about flings with stars like Enrique Iglesias, Luis Miguel, and Donal Logue. There have been legal battles. And there has been love.
Relationships can be complicated, and even more so if everything you do gets picked apart by the public. However, this never stopped Vergara from pursuing happiness and finally marrying the man of her dreams.
Sofía Vergara married her high school sweetheart
Some teenagers dream of marrying their high school significant other, starting a family together, and living happily ever after. Sofía Vergara did exactly that, but their happy ending only lasted a few years. Though her relationship with Joe Gonzalez did not stay the course, their union did lead to a beautiful son and a friendship to last a lifetime. Vergara was 18 years old when she got married for the first time, and 19 years old when she became a mother to Manolo Gonzalez Vergara. "My high school sweetheart, the only one. We married and had a son, Manolo," she told Parade. To this day, Vergara and Gonzalez have a loving co-parenting relationship in which the two can co-exist and visit each other. "We are still close friends. When José comes to the United States, he stays with me," the "Modern Family" actor said.
Vergara and her young son moved from Colombia to Miami in 1994, and the future TV star put her all into being a single mom. She told People in 2016, "I was really young when I divorced his father, so I raised him trying to set the best example and give him the best that I could."
She dated someone with mob ties
Some failed relationships are filled with drama and disagreements. Others, like in Sofía Vergara and Chris Paciello's case, are filled with murder accusations, robbery, bail money, and jail time. According to the New York Post, Vergara struck up a relationship with the Miami club owner when they met in the late '90s, but by the turn of the millennium, their romance took a turn: Paciello, who had ties to the mob, was charged with murder and robbery in 2000. As The New York Times reported at the time, Vergara, who identified as his ex, attended his trial and even volunteered to help out with his hefty bail. Paciello ended up serving six years in prison. On top of all that, Vergara was dealing with health matters in 2000, too. As she told Parade, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and received treatment.
Vergara and Paciello remained friends throughout the years. When Vergara and then-beau Nick Loeb's relationship ended (more on that later), a source claimed to the Daily Mail that the split was fueled by the actor's continued contact with Paciello.
She got to know Craig David really well
The celebrity romance rumor mill seemingly never takes a break, but sometimes, there's truth to said rumors. Which brings us to the whispers about Sofía Vergara and musician Craig David. In 2003, the future sitcom star was linked to the "Fill Me In" singer. Though they reportedly broke up after less than a year, it sure sounds like there isn't any bad blood between the two.
When ET asked David about the rumored romance years later, he did not get into the specifics of their relationship, but did say that he and Vergara did spend some quality time together. "I think there's pictures that would say we knew each other very, very well," he said. "I mean, people say it's dating. Some say it's friends. ... I just remember a very beautiful soul who was caring about her family." He also expressed that he was thrilled to see her career take off the way that it had.
According to Female First, David wished her well when word got out that she'd connected with Tom Cruise. "She is amazing and Tom is a lucky guy," David reportedly said. "I'd love it if they got married. We went out for a while, but she was in LA trying to make it as an actress. I was traveling the world and we couldn't get much time together so things didn't work out."
The audition of a lifetime
In 2008, celebrity biographer Andrew Morton released "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography," and the tome wasted no time becoming a bestseller. Of course, the book got a lot of attention because of the whole Church of Scientology factor, but it is worth noting that some lesser-known details regarding Tom Cruise's love life were sprinkled throughout. In it, Morton touched on the "Top Gun" star's reported relationship with Sofía Vergara. Now, Vergara and Cruise have not addressed this, and it is worth remembering that the biography is unauthorized and many of the details have been called into question, so do with all of that what you will.
As Morton recounted in the New York Post, Cruise and Vergara were reportedly set up by Will Smith. The two were eventually photographed out together. Though they were not together for long, Morton's biography suggests things got serious rather quickly. He wrote, "One friend told me: 'She met his children, there is no doubt he was auditioning her for the part of his wife.'" However, according to Morton, things apparently fizzled because Vergara struggled with the religion element. "It was made clear that if she took the part, she would have to renounce her Catholic faith and convert to Scientology," he wrote.
An engagement that ended in court
Sofía Vergara and businessman Nick Loeb were engaged for two years before she announced their split on WhoSay in 2014. According to People, the "Modern Family" actor wrote, "Not that anyone should care, but in order to not give the press the chance to invent crazy and hurtful drama, I prefer to tell my fans personally that Nick and I have [decided] to be apart." Vergara and Loeb's relationship, which began in 2010, went through some ups and downs; mere months before they got engaged in 2012, they broke up for a short stint.
In the aforementioned breakup announcement, Vergara maintained all was amicable. However, things took a drastic change for the worse when Loeb sued Vergara over their frozen embryos. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Loeb said, "We signed a form stating that any embryos ... could be brought to term only with both parties' consent. The form did not specify — as California law requires — what would happen if we separated. I am asking to have it voided."
But in 2021, the court ruled in favor of Vergara. NBC Los Angeles reported that, just like they had agreed in their contract, each party needs to have a written consent from the other individual in order to utilize the embryos.
Sofía Vergara found her Prince Charming
After a short-lived marriage, a mobster, several rumored relationships, and an embryo battle, Sofía Vergara finally found her happy ending with actor Joe Manganiello. The couple started dating in 2014 and wasted no time taking the next step. "Our first date was in June, and then I proposed to her on Christmas Eve; [we dated for] about six months," Manganiello told Haute Living. "When you know, you know, and we knew right away—like, very quickly."
At this point, we cannot imagine these two not being a couple. However, Vergara admitted to InStyle (via ET) that she was apprehensive to give the "True Blood" star a shot in the first place. "I didn't want to go out with him for a long time because I thought he was too good-looking. ... I'm 43 years old. I don't want to deal with a guy that every girl is after, you know? But then I gave him a chance. I realized he's not like a typical handsome guy. He's not vain. He's very serious, very straightforward, very easy." Lucky for Vergara and Manganiello, the former's assumptions about the latter did not hold water.
After deciding to give him a chance, the couple married in 2015 at Palm Beach where Vergara wore Zuhair Murad. Living proof that happy endings come to those who don't give up on love.