Joe Manganiello gave a glimpse at his relationship with girlfriend Caitlin O’Connor following the pair’s first Valentine’s Day together.
Manganiello, 47, made the couple’s romance Instagram official in a photo dump shared on Sunday, February 18. “The week in review…” he began in his caption, recapping highlights including promoting his show Deal or No Deal Island, filming a music video with friends and sitting for a tattoo touch-up.
The final three images in Manganiello’s slideshow featured O’Connor, 34. In one snap, Manganiello stood behind his girlfriend while they took a selfie at a Tool concert. A separate image showed O’Connor posing in front of a large bouquet of roses with a heart-shaped box of chocolates on the table.
“And celebrated Valentine’s Day with Tool & Caitlin… ❤️,” he concluded his caption.
Manganiello was first linked to O’Connor in September 2023, two months after he and Sofia Vergara announced their split. The exes were married for seven years before Manganiello filed for divorce in July 2023.
“We have made the difficult decision to divorce,” Manganiello and Vergara, 51, noted in a joint statement at the time. “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.”
In December 2023, Manganiello and O’Connor made their public debut as a couple at a gala in New York City. Manganiello wrapped his arm around his date’s waist as they posed together on the red carpet.
A source exclusively told Us Weekly later that month that the couple “work really well together,” with a second insider noting that O’Connor isn’t very “high-maintenance.” According to a third source, Manganiello doesn’t think another marriage is “out of the question” for him in the future.
Manganiello and Vergara reached a divorce settlement earlier this month. Court docs obtained by TMZ on February 9 indicate that both parties waived their rights to alimony. The duo will “keep the assets they accumulated individually over the course of their seven years together.” (Vergara previously filed a petition in August 2023 requesting for her prenuptial agreement with Manganiello to be enforced, with certain assets remaining under her ownership.)
While Manganiello has been tight-lipped about his divorce, Vergara opened up about why the pair’s marriage ended in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper El País. She claimed their age difference was a determining factor.
“Well, I’m newly divorced from my second husband, who I was with for 10 years. My marriage broke up because my husband was younger,” she said last month. “He wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom.”
Vergara, who welcomed son Manolo in 1991 with then-husband Joe Gonzalez, noted that she wasn’t interested in expanding her family further. “I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore,” she continued. “I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother.”
More children may not be in her future, but Vergara is open to finding a new partner to spend her life with. “So, if love comes along, he has to come with [his own] children,” she added. “I’m almost in menopause, it’s the natural way of things. When my son becomes a dad, let him bring the baby to me for a while and then I’ll give it back to him and go on with my life. That’s what I have to do.”
Following her split from Manganiello, the Modern Family alum has been linked to orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman after they were spotted having dinner together in October 2023.
