Sofía Vergara opens up about a ‘difficult year’ after divorce from Joe Manganiello

Sofía Vergara looks back on an eventful year and looks forward to 2024.

The “Modern Family” alum confirmed in July that she and fellow actor Joe Manganiello were divorcing after seven years together. After fellow “America’s Got Talent” judge Howie Mandel joked about the split on air in September, Vergara left the stage.

The Colombian actor today shares how difficult the last few months have been.

“I’ve had a very interesting year,” Vergara told People in an exclusive interview on Thursday. “I don’t want to say ‘bad’ or anything like that, but it’s been very interesting and very difficult.”

“I went through a divorce this year, the SAG strike that lasted so long,” Vergara continued.

The Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America joined forces earlier this year to demand increased payments for actors on hit streaming shows, as well as protections around the use of artificial intelligence and likenesses digital on the screen.

This monumental effort began in July and ended in October after 118 days.

“I’ve seen my friends struggle — some had to pull their kids out of school or had problems with their mortgage, so it’s been a weird, weird year,” Vergara told People, referring to the hundreds of thousands of people in Hollywood who found themselves out of work.

The strike came at a particularly difficult time for Vergara, who announced her divorce the same month it began. Her joint statement with Manganiello followed suspicions about their split, as Vergara posted about vacationing in Italy for her 51st birthday without him.

“We have made the difficult decision to divorce,” the former couple told People at the time. “As two people who love and care for each other, we politely ask for privacy at this time as we enter this new phase of our lives.”

Vergara has stayed busy despite these obstacles and has already finished filming the new Netflix series “Griselda,” in which she plays real-life drug lord Griselda Blanco, who ruthlessly had anyone who got in her way murdered.

When asked if 2024 would mark a new beginning, Vergara shared a fairly balanced perspective: “I hope so. I don’t know if there is such a thing as a fresh start at 51. I don’t know if I’m cooler, but I’m just excited.