Joe Manganiello on why he's sharing his 7-year health journey: "The alternative became too difficult"
On the big and small screen, Joe Manganiello is the picture of strength and health, but what most people didn't know is that he was acting even when the cameras stopped rolling.
Manganiello, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon and recently moved back, is out with a new book titled "Bloodlines." He stopped by KDKA to talk with anchor Kristine Sorensen about why he's telling all about his seven-year health battle and spiritual journey.
He reveals in "Bloodlines" that he has an autoimmune illness that ravaged his body with sores, pain, fatigue and severe intestinal problems.
"That rolled into an 11th-hour emergency life-saving surgery where they split me open and cut my entire large intestine and diverted me to an ostomy bag that they thought might be permanent, and I wound up wearing that for seven months," he said. "And during that time, I got offered the role of the main villain in Ben Affleck's 'Batman.'"
When Western medicine couldn't heal him, Manganiello sought healing in all kinds of ways, from voodoo to a neo-pagan Buddhist Hindu shaman from Australia to a ceremony involving animal sacrifice in Cuba and back to western Pennsylvania.
"There was a Greek Orthodox monastery outside of Pittsburgh that I was introduced to the Mother Superior by Troy Polamalu, and so they, the sisters, were sending me on spiritual quests," Manganiello said.
Ultimately, he traced his illness through his bloodlines, going several generations back to his family's murder in the Armenian Genocide.
Now, back in Mt. Lebanon with his mom, fiancée Caitlin O'Connor and emotional support dog Bubbles, Manganiello says he's grateful to be alive and in what he calls a "front porch culture."
Manganiello says since his book came out this week, he's been inundated with stories of how it's helping people deal with their own trauma and health challenges.
"Did you worry that it could hurt your career if you came forward with that?" Kristine asked him.
"I mean, sure, but I didn't hide it specifically for career reasons," he answered. "It was also I didn't want to be a sick person. I didn't want to be looked at as a sick person. I didn't want to have that be the dominant narrative in my life, but I think the alternative became too difficult."
Now that he's no longer hiding his seven-year journey through a life-threatening illness and spiritual awakening, Manganiello says he finally feels his life is in alignment and that he hopes the book helps others who are suffering.
The book "Bloodlines" is available online and in bookstores, and Manganiello also reads it as an audiobook for purchase. You can watch Sorensen's full interview with Manganiello on KDKA's YouTube page.
