It’s been a year since Sofía Vergara and Joe Manganiello announced their split, but the Modern Family star isn’t looking back at the past — she’s very happy with her present. The 52-year-old actress started dating orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman last fall and he’s reportedly been a breath of fresh air in her life.
Her friends have noted that difference in her personality while being kind of shady about her ex-husband after seven years of marriage. “Sofía’s living her best life. She’s spending time with her friends after being stifled in a relationship with a largely unsupportive partner,” a Life & Style source claimed. “Sofía was always there to take care of Joe, while his career was never what it was when they met.” The insider believed that Manganiello was “threatened by her success and joie de vivre.”
While Vergara wasn’t necessarily looking for love, Saliman checked off all of the right boxes the America’s Got Talent judge was looking for in a mate. “It doesn’t even have to be a husband. A partner,” she revealed to People in February. She wanted someone who shared these qualities: “Health. Money. Fun. With kids. That’s it.” But she also told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that a man in the entertainment industry was not for her anymore.
“So, in New York, there’s not only like actors or directors, I think…I’m going to spend more time in New York,” she teased. Vergara might joke about her ex; she told El País that their split had more to do with family planning than anything else. “Well, I’m newly divorced from my second husband, who I was with for 10 years. My marriage broke up because my husband was younger,” she said. “He wanted to have kids, and I didn’t want to be an old mom.” Manganiello denied those claims in a July Men’s Journal interview, but it’s clear the former couple didn’t see eye to eye at the end of their marriage.
Now, Vergara is enjoying her new life with Saliman. “Her celebrity status isn’t something that intimidates him whatsoever,” a source told Us Weekly. “Sofía is attracted to his sense of humor and his intelligence. Plus, he’s a total gentleman and treats her with nothing but respect. She’s excited to see where things go.”
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