Sofia Vergara is no stranger to the spotlight, but in a new Variety cover story, the 52-year-old actress opens up about her life in a way that feels both candid and refreshing. From her recent split with Joe Manganiello to her intense preparation for her latest role in Griselda, Sofia offers a glimpse into the highs and lows of her personal and professional journey.
Vergara and Manganiello were one of Hollywood’s most admired couples, so news of their split came as a shock to many. Rumours began circulating almost immediately, with one narrative suggesting that their separation was due to differing views on having children. Some reports claimed that Sofia didn’t want to be an “older mom,” a statement that was allegedly linked to Manganiello. He has dismissed the rumors as “simply not true.”
“At the end of the day, you never even know if that’s what he said for real,” Sofia commented, clearly tired of the rumour mill. “I’ve read a lot of things that I’ve said that I’m like, ‘Huh?’ What am I gonna do, call him? I don’t know if he even said that.”
Despite the challenges of navigating personal issues in the public eye, Sofia’s career continues to thrive. She’s currently preparing for her role in Griselda, a drama that promises to be a significant departure from her comedic roots in Modern Family. To help her transition from comedy to drama, Sofia enlisted the help of renowned acting coach Nancy Banks, who has also worked with Jennifer Aniston.
“I’m like, OK, who is a comedic actress that did good in a drama? Jennifer Aniston!” Sofia explained. The shift from comedy to drama hasn’t been easy, though. “Nancy said, ‘If you want to cry, you just have to think of something.’ And I did have a lot of horrible things to think about.” Sofia’s honesty about the emotional toll of preparing for this role is palpable. She even revealed that she had to start taking a little bit of Xanax to cope with the intense demands of her performance.
“I was anxious,” she admitted. “Nancy told me, ‘You’re killing, you’re screaming, crying—everything—during the day. You go home and your body doesn’t know that you weren’t doing those things for real, feeling those things.’ So I had to start taking a little bit of Xanax at night to calm down. I was not prepared for that. I didn’t know. That’s why actors go crazy! How do they do that for years?”
This experience is a far cry from her days on the set of Modern Family, where the dialogue was far less demanding. Sofia joked about the stark difference between her work on the sitcom and her new project. “Back then, my lines were easy. It wasn’t like monologues,” she said, reflecting on the ease of her iconic role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. “I’m going through pre-menopause; I can’t remember where my glasses are. And now I have to learn all these monologues?”
When asked about the possibility of revisiting Modern Family, Sofia’s enthusiasm was unmistakable. “I’d die to be on that set. It’d be so much fun,” she said, her love for the show and her co-stars still very much alive. “A TV movie maybe?” she mused, leaving the door open for a potential reunion that would surely delight fans of the long-running series.
