‘The Kill Room’ Star Joe Manganiello’s Memoir Reveals Shaman’s Voodoo Curse Claim

Celebrity memoirs often promise intriguing stories, but Joe Manganiello’s ‘Bloodlines’ stands out as something truly unique. Released on October 13, the memoir delves into a long-hidden health crisis that pushed the ‘True Blood’ and ‘Magic Mike’ star to seek alternatives beyond conventional medicine.

According to Simon & Schuster, Manganiello battled autoimmune-related illnesses for seven years, facing symptoms that affected his skin, thyroid, eyes, lungs, and digestive system. His journey included chronic pain and a life-saving organ amputation. As doctors struggled to find answers, he turned to shamans, pagan rituals, ancient myths, and long-lost family records.

This unconventional search led to one of the memoir’s most talked-about revelations: a shaman’s assertion that someone from Sofía Vergara’s past had placed a voodoo curse on him. Manganiello recounts a phone conversation with a Cuba-based shaman who accurately described his illness, including his intestinal issues. The shaman claimed that a man from his wife’s past, still in love with her, had cursed her husband in New Orleans.

Manganiello was taken aback, as even some close family members were unaware of those details. He looked at Vergara with a mix of fear, anger, and disbelief, mentally reviewing her exes and landing on the man she was with right before him, presumably her ex-fiancé.

The narrative continues with Manganiello pondering whether Vergara herself might have been cursed by a man from her past who could not have her. In this scenario, the hex would be intended to affect any man she partnered with for the rest of her life.

He admits that these thoughts seemed far-fetched. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that a stranger on the phone had revealed too much about his condition. Reports indicate he even contemplated flying to Ecuador following the call.

This is just one of several unconventional episodes in the book. Manganiello also shares a ritual in Cuba involving a goat’s skull and a shaman in Santa Monica who suggested that generational trauma was contributing to his suffering.

The curse narrative is accompanied by pointed reflections on his marriage to Vergara. He claims his symptoms began shortly after their wedding in November 2015, alleging that she refused to hug him when he asked and ridiculed his Chihuahua, Bubbles, whom he adopted during a particularly challenging time in 2019.

He describes the marriage as emotionally vacant. Yet, he acknowledges that Vergara was present during a serious medical emergency in 2016 and authorized the operation that resulted in the removal of part of his intestines.

The memoir also revisits the reasons behind their split. They announced their separation in July 2023, with the divorce finalized in 2024. Vergara stated in a January 2024 interview with Spanish newspaper El País that the marriage ended because he wanted children and she did not wish to become an older mother.

Manganiello challenged that narrative in a July 2024 interview with Men’s Journal and reiterates his stance in ‘Bloodlines’. He explains that his illness led him to abandon the idea of fatherhood, fearing that after failed IVF attempts and discussions of egg donors, he might die and leave Vergara to raise a child who wasn’t biologically hers.

These are Manganiello’s personal recollections, and the voodoo claim originates from a shaman, not from any medical or factual evidence. He never received a definitive diagnosis, and nothing in his account confirms that a ritual or shamanic treatment cured him. When initial excerpts surfaced, Vergara had not publicly responded, though later reports suggest she has indirectly addressed the situation without naming her ex-husband.

Manganiello states that he is now symptom-free and off medication. He is also engaged to actress Caitlin O’Connor, with their engagement taking place in the summer of 2025. He views writing the book as a means to clarify misconceptions about him that he believes were inaccurate.

The memoir goes beyond celebrity gossip, tracing his ancestry back to his great-grandmother Terviz Darakjian, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and examining how inherited trauma may have influenced his struggles.

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