Why Joe Manganiello Believes Tom Cruise Blocked His Reacher Casting

While Vergara nor Cruise have never confirmed their romance publicly, an unauthorized biography about the actor by Andrew Morton claimed they indeed had a brief fling in the mid-aughts after becoming acquainted through mutual friend Will Smith. 

In Morton’s telling, a friend of Vergara’s claimed that while the Modern Family actress was “dazzled” by Cruise, she was not willing to renounce her Catholic faith to convert to Scientology.

Although Vergara—mom to son Manolo, 34, with ex Joe González—has never confirmed the claims herself, she was much more forthright about why she felt her romance with Manganiello ended in 2023 after seven years of marriage. 

“My marriage broke up because my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom,” Vegara told El País in an interview published in 2024. “I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore.” (Manganiello, who is now engaged to Caitlin O’Connor, however has alleged his health struggles played a major part in the collapse of their marriage.) 

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