Joe Manganiello Gushed About 'Trust' He Had with Sofía Vergara 3 Years Before Divorce News: 'You Don't Let Go of It'

The pair announced their split on Monday following seven years of marriage

Three summers ago, Joe Manganiello couldn’t help but gush about why he decided to marry Sofía Vergara.

Years before the couple announced their decision to divorce following seven years of marriage, Manganiello, 46, opened up to PEOPLE about why he and Vergara, 51, clicked.

"I knew pretty quickly that I could trust her, and she knew pretty quickly that she could trust me,” Manganiello said in 2020. “And we’re both the kind of people who are capable of putting the other person ahead of ourselves. I was capable of putting her wishes ahead of mine, whatever they were, and she was capable of doing the same. Once you have that, you don't let go of it.”

Related: Sofía Vergara and Joe Manganiello Are Divorcing After 7 Years of Marriage

The actor met the Modern Family star via her costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in 2014, which Manganiello attended as a guest of PEOPLE’s then-Editor in chief, Jess Cagle.

Vergara had been engaged to Nick Loeb at the time, but called off her engagement weeks after the event, prompting Manganiello to ask Ferguson, 47, for the actress's number.

 “My instincts about her were right,” Manganiello said.

Related: Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello's Relationship Timeline

The True Blood alum flew to New Orleans, where Vergara had been filming Hot Pursuit, to take her on their first date.

"I said, 'I'm coming to New Orleans. If you're not available, I'm just gonna do some sightseeing, but I'm gonna be there and if you're free I can take you out,'" Manganiello said on The Jess Cagle Show in 2020. "She said, 'You're crazy.' I said, 'I'll see you next week.'"

Manganiello proposed to Vergara in December 2014, and they tied the knot the following November.

The Magic Mike star spent the early months of the pandemic introducing Vergara to TV shows she hadn’t watched.

“Sofia had never seen Mad Men, which I saw every episode of and was obsessed with, so we went through all of Mad Men,” Manganiello said to PEOPLE. “Then she had never seen The Sopranos and I was like, ‘That's the greatest show that's ever been made that kicked off all of the great cable shows. It paved the way. You have to see these.’ So I watched The Sopranos again. She thought it was brilliant.”

Related: Sofia Vergara Celebrates 51st Birthday in Italy with a Friend Amid Split from Husband Joe Manganiello

In June, Manganiello and Vergara put their the seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom Beverly Hills home on the market for a second time in less than a year with an asking price of $18 million.

Last week, Vergara embarked on a trip to Italy with friends to celebrate her 51st birthday. Based on Vergara’s Instagram posts from the vacation, Manganiello did not attend with her, but posted “¡¡¡Feliz Cumpleaños Sofía!!!” on July 10 for her birthday.

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On Monday, sources confirmed to PEOPLE that the pair were planning to divorce. The couple also confirmed the news in a joint statement to Page Six.

"We have made the difficult decision to divorce,” Manganiello and Vergara said. “As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”

The announcement came just days after Vergara seemingly hinted at relationship trouble on Instagram. "When life gives u lemons u come to Italy to squeeze them😚❤️☀️🇮🇹 " she wrote beside a photo of herself on her Italian getaway.

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