How Many Kids Does Sofia Vergara Have?

Sofia Vergara is most well-known these days for her hilarious performance on the hit show Modern Family. On the show, she plays Gloria, the free-spirited and fun Colombian wife of Jay. In the fictional portrayal, Gloria and Jay have two children named Manny and Joe, but how close is this to Vergara’s actual reality? 

Does the actress have any children of her own, and what does her family life look like? Read on to find out more. 

Sofia Vergara has faced family tragedies

Like her character Gloria, Vergara is from Colombia. Vergara comes from a successful cattle ranching family and has four siblings. When Vergara was only 17 years old, she was recruited for modeling while walking along the beach and went on to land a role in a Pepsi commercial that would eventually launch her career.

Though Vergara had been planning a career in dentistry, she followed this new path into superstardom. This seems to have worked out well for her. Vergara has amassed many acting credits as well as major endorsements and deals that have created quite an impressive fortune. 

While that story of success is heartwarming, it didn’t come without some bumps in the road. Vergara’s older brother Rafael was tragically killed in a botched kidnapping plot to exploit her family for money. Later, Vergara herself would face some personal tragedy when, in 2000, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer before her career had even really taken off. The star kept the diagnosis a secret for a long time but has since opened up about managing her life in recovery from the disease. 

In addition, her younger brother Julio was deported to Columbia in 2011 following multiple drug arrests and struggles with addiction. Vergara’s rise to fame has been dotted with several personal tragedies that have made the path less than smooth. 

Sofia Vergara has been married twice

Vergara married her high school sweetheart Joe Gonzalez and had a son, Manolo, in 1991. They divorced while their son was just a toddler. 

Vergara would later go on to marry fellow actor Joe Manganiello. When Manganiello first expressed interest in dating Vergara, she thought she was too old for him. Though she is only four years his senior, Manganiello was highly prized and pursued by much younger women. In fact, he jokes that he knew Vergara was the one for him when he showed her his interview with People Magazine as the most eligible bachelor and she started flipping through to see who else was on the list. The pair wed in 2015. 

Sofia Vergara’s growing family is a matter of controversy

While Vergara and Manganiello have no children together, and Vergara has her one son from a previous marriage, there is still some controversy surrounding her growing family. She was once engaged to Nick Loeb, and she has several frozen embryos as a result of that relationship. At one point, the pair had been considering surrogacy as a way to grow their family. 

Loeb has famously been fighting Vergara for the right to use the embryos without her permission. The court battle has been messy and complicated, with Loeb asking for compensation for his legal fees and no clear decision yet made on the use of the embryos. 

While Vergara did not rule out having more children with Manganiello, to date Vergara still has only one son. That son, Manolo, is now grown and following closely in his mother’s footsteps with a burgeoning acting career of his own. He has also gotten some coveted modeling gigs and seems well on his way to building a celebrity career for himself.