HE’S COME A LONG WAY: JOE MANGANIELLO
By OBS reviewer Heidi
We all know Joe Manganiello for the steaming hot werewolf, Alcide, that he plays on True Blood and many other roles he’s taken on since then. But did you know that life wasn’t always so rosey for this sexy hunk? Read on to find out more!
he was cast as Peter Parker’s nemesis in Spider-Man. But by the time the movie premiered in 2002, he was essentially homeless, sleeping on friends’ couches. The reason is simple enough: He was drinking a bottle of whiskey and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, habits that began when he played Captain Morgan in bars in his native Pittsburgh.
But Manganiello’s comeback was anything but simple. He quit drinking and smoking in 2002, but wouldn’t work again as an actor for another 4 years. “I had to take the elevator all the way down, start from scratch, and build back up,” he says.
He delivered packages, worked as a roadie, trained as a fighter, and finally settled in on a construction crew, lifting 100-pound bags of cement all day and then hitting the gym to lift at night. He continued lifting hard and heavy when he returned to acting with a series of TV roles, and was up to 240 pounds when he got the call to play Alcide Herveaux on True Blood. That’s when he hired trainer Ron Mathews—best known for turning Hugh Jackman into Wolverine—to help him “look like an animal when the shirt comes off.”
The results are on display in the current issue of Men’s Health, where you can read more about Manganiello and the workouts that transformed not only his body, but his career. (Via Foxnews.com)
Talk about being in the proverbial black hole! But I for one am glad to see that he was able to dig his way out! It is a true rags to riches story, and I’m sure the struggles he’s faced in the past have made Manganiello the man he is today! And now Men’s Health has him listed as the #1 Best Summer Body…. and looking at him, we can totally see why he was given that honor!