Joe Manganiello says he 'couldn't take his eyes off' Sofia Vergara when he met her for the first time
Joe Manganiello was hesitant to meet Sofia Vergara despite falling for her the first time he laid eyes on her.
Manganiello revealed how he was enamored by the Colombian-American bombshell when they attended the same party back in 2014. However, he chose to tread lightly believing she was still engaged to American businessman Nick Loeb.
The 43-year-old hunk recalled the first time he saw his future wife on Wednesday, April 8, during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. "She was wearing this dress that looked great on her and I just could not take my eyes off of her," he began.
But Manganiello avoided introducing himself to Vergara despite the butterflies in his stomach because she was yet to reveal her newly single status.
"Later on that night, Jesse Tyler Ferguson came up to me and said, 'Hey. My friend Sofia wants to come over and say hi.' And I said, 'Oh, your friend Sofia whose fiancé is also at this party?'" the True Blood actor remembered.
"Oh, yeah, whatever. No, no, no. She just wants to come over and talk. You know, she’s a big fan of yours," Ferguson told Manganiello of his Modern Family co-star.
Manganiello was still skeptical of Ferguson's intentions at this point. He admitted he "didn't know what he was up to" and the last thing he wanted to do was get in a fight with Loeb.
Nonetheless, Vergara approached him and they had a nice conversation.
Still, Manganiello refrained from getting her number and said he was a little confused by their meeting.
But he received an email from the former editor-in-chief at People Magazine Jess Cagle just a few weeks later, letting him know that Sofia had broken off her engagement with Loeb and was about to reveal the news publicly.
Manganiello knew this was his time to shine. He wasted no time getting her number from Ferguson.
"I don’t know what kind of emotional state she’s in, but tell her I want to take her out, give me her number," he told Ferguson.
"Later that night, he shot me her number. I called her up, we laughed and talked," he recalled. And shortly thereafter, he flew to New Orleans, where Vergara was shooting a movie.
"She said 'You’re crazy,'" during the phone call, he remembered, before replying, "I'll see you next week!"
The doting couple eventually took their vows in a star-studded ceremony in 2015.
Vergara grabbed headlines in February after being signed on as a judge for the upcoming season of 'America's Got Talent', joining show regulars Howie Mandel, Simon Cowell and returning judge Heidi Klum on the panel.
While she is no stranger to the reality TV scene, this marks her first appearance on a reality television series as a judge.
On Thursday, February 27, she took to Instagram to post a picture from the sets of AGT. "I am so happy to join my new family on @agt. This is a new and exciting next chapter for me and I'm extremely proud to be the first Latin judge on the show. I can't wait to watch all the new talent and have fun with all you guys!" she wrote in the caption.
Vergara has grown to become a fan-favorite with her prolific career, and is currently killing it as the humorous Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on NBC's 'Modern Family'.