Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello Have Apparently “Been Growing Apart for Some Time Now”

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello on a red carpet — (Image credit: Getty)

As Marie Claire reported earlier today, Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello are divorcing after seven years of marriage, releasing a joint statement that said “We have made the difficult decision to divorce. As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”

While their decision to split may come as a shock to the public, People reports that the couple have been growing apart for a while and have different focuses in life. “They have been growing apart for some time now and tried to resolve things, but they are focused on different areas of their lives,” a source close to Vergara told the magazine.

The source described the couple’s marriage as a “passionate, all-encompassing romance, which kept the flames hot for quite a while.” A second source agrees, saying “I have never seen two people so in love, so passionate, and so happy. They were always laughing, lovey-dovey, and really happy. There was a magical glow above their heads. They are both real people and down to earth.”

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So what went wrong? The source close to Vergara said the pair’s flame just died out over the years. “They definitely love and respect each other, but once that initial passion dies down and other areas get in the way, then little differences get bigger,” the source said. The second source said those so-called “little differences” are what ultimately caused the marriage’s demise: “They had differences in how their lives should go forward, and it caused stress,” they said.

Vergara and Manganiello met through Vergara’s Modern Family costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner back in 2014. Manganiello proposed in December of that year, and they married in November 2015. The source close to Vergara said the actress always had reservations about marrying a fellow actor, saying “Sofia is a smart and hardworking girl who thinks of everything that could go wrong before it actually does. Joe is pretty low key, and for years this suited both of them. This has been chipping away for a while.”

Vergara recently celebrated turning 51 in Italy on a trip with friends that Manganiello did not join her for. And the proof might have been in her Instagram caption from this past weekend: “When life gives u lemons u come to Italy to squeeze them,” she wrote. Another sign of the impending announcement? Last month, the two put their Beverly Hills home on the market—for an asking price of a cool $18 million.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.