Joe Manganiello has recently opened up to fans about his health journey after dealing with the fallout of an autoimmune disease that nearly took his life. Since then, with the release of a new memoir, he has opened up about how he has been trying to reclaim his life. In fact, he recently shared a creative way of handling the literal scars of his journey. This included sharing a bit more than what some fans expected.
Joe Manganiello Recently Shared His Story With His New Memoir, Bloodlines
Manganiello is an actor whose breakout role was Alcide Herveaux in five seasons of HBO’s True Blood. Over the years, he’s been known for a variety of films, including Spider-Man, Magic Mike, Sabotage, and Rampage. He is also known for playing Slade Wilson, or Deathstroke, in the DC Extended Universe.
Recently, the actor has shared that, over the past few years, he had endured a severe, nearly fatal autoimmune disease. In 2016, he even underwent emergency surgery to remove his large intestine.
The illness and surgery impacted him greatly. Losing 60 pounds in just two weeks, he was temporarily left unable to walk at one point. Currently, he has since been declared symptom-free.
Since then, Manganiello shared a creative way he dealt with the scars left from his surgery: a dragon tattoo. He had previously explained the decision during a chapter in his recently released memoir, Bloodlines.
In a post on Instagram, Manganiello shared a photo carousel detailing the step-by-step process of creating the dragon. Initially presented as an outline, he later showed it in all of its glory, complete with black scales and orange and red details. The large creature could be seen covering the actor’s torso, thigh, and leg.
The Actor Showed Off His Dragon Tattoo After Detailing It In The Book, Complete With A Step-By-Step Process
Manganiello explained the symbolism of the dragon in his book. As he explained in the post, “In chapter four, I related my struggle with the illness to my body sending out knights to fight a (western) dragon that didn’t exist. The soldiers would then punch holes throughout my body when they couldn’t find an enemy.”
The actor continued, “The idea to cover my surgery scars with my first tattoo, a three-foot dragon down my right side, was my effort to take back what little agency I felt that I had, and to signal to my body to stop attacking the dragon… because the (eastern) dragon was me…”
With Manganiello’s recent share, many fans have been sharing their reactions to the post. Many commended the star for all that he went through. Some comments included:
- “I did not think I was going to get almost naked @joemanganiello on my feed this afternoon. Glorious day!”
- “Thank you for putting up pictures of the entire tattoo. I really wanted to see it after that part of the book. To people that don’t have tattoos, if its not your jam… scroll on by. For some of us (not speaking for Joe) it can be a way of taking agency of our body or parts of our body back.”
- “I just finished your book on audible today. Thank you for sharing your incredible story! I’m a nurse at Children’s in PGH, also really appreciate all you do for the foundation.”
- “The Guy With The Dragon Tattoo.”
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.