Joe Manganiello Reveals 2016 Colon Removal After 7-Year Secret Health Battle

Q: What was the mysterious autoimmune disease that suddenly destroyed the Hollywood star's colon and almost took his life?

It has not been publicly identified. Manganiello has described it as a “mysterious” or “unidentified” autoimmune illness, and reporting around his memoir says doctors were never able to give it a definitive diagnosis. What is known is that the illness caused severe inflammation and ulcers in his digestive tract, and he said doctors tried medications commonly used for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, but those treatments did not work. In his account, the condition progressed until his large intestine was so badly damaged that surgeons removed it in emergency surgery to prevent a fatal rupture and sepsis. So the best-supported answer is that there was no confirmed named disease disclosed publicly. It appeared to resemble forms of inflammatory bowel disease, but Manganiello has said it remained undiagnosed.

Q: How did the promise of playing a legendary comic book villain pull an actor back from the brink of death?

The promise of playing Deathstroke gave Joe Manganiello a concrete reason to recover when he was emerging from a near-fatal illness. After collapsing in 2016 and undergoing emergency surgery that removed his entire large intestine, he said he left the hospital weak, unable to walk normally, down about 60 pounds, and living with an ostomy bag. About a month later, he got the call offering him Ben Affleck’s Batman villain. Manganiello has said that role became a lifeline. Instead of focusing only on pain, complications and the possibility that his career might be over, he focused on what he needed to do to be ready for a major action film roughly a year later. In his telling, the prospect of playing a legendary DC assassin gave him hope, discipline and a future target at a moment when survival itself felt uncertain. That motivation was practical as well as emotional. He began trying to regain weight, rebuild strength and manage the humiliating realities of recovery, including keeping his ostomy bag hidden during a Deathstroke costume fitting. He has described the part as the biggest opportunity of his career and said he “needed it to survive” because it represented the possibility of getting his life back. The film was eventually canceled, and Manganiello only briefly appeared as Deathstroke in Justice League scenes. But by then, the role had already served its most important purpose: it helped pull him mentally and physically toward recovery when he was at his lowest.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 13

Manganiello said doctors removed his entire large intestine in 2016 after he collapsed on set and spent two months hospitalized with unexplained symptoms.
His colon had turned to pus and was close to exploding, he said, leaving him with an ostomy bag, a 60-pound weight loss in two weeks and months of recovery.
Sofia Vergara, then his wife, authorized the emergency procedure while he was unconscious; Manganiello said that decision bought doctors time even before they knew the cause.
The actor said the illness strained their marriage and remained largely hidden for seven years, a period he details in his memoir "Bloodlines," released Oct. 13.