‘Magic Mike’ Star Covers Surgical Scars With 3-Foot Tattoo

SCAR TACTICS The actor found a clever way to disguise the scars left from his years-long health battle. DANNY MOLOSHOK/Danny Moloshok, Reuters Joe Manganiello has turned the scars from his mystery illness into something far more striking: a three-foot dragon tattoo. On Monday, the 49-year-old Magic Mike star unveiled his first tattoo on Instagram , revealing that the enormous design was his way of reclaiming control after years of battling an autoimmune illness .

“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,” Manganiello wrote. Joe Manganiello performed an iconic, water-drenched dance at a convenience store in "Magic Mike XXL." Warner Bros.

The black, red, and orange dragon begins on the Magic Mike star’s right abdomen, with its snarling head just below his belly button. Its scaly body snakes down his hip and thigh, curling near his knee. In four photos, Manganiello holds a towel around his waist while showing the tattoo’s transformation from an elaborate black outline into a brightly colored design.

Joe Manganiello shows off the process for his first tattoo. Joe Manganiello/ Instagram The design also draws on a metaphor from his new memoir. Get a First Look Sign up to receive news and updates from The Looker In the Instagram caption, titled “BLOODLINES • Chapter 4 • Enter the Dragon,” Manganiello imagined his immune system as an army of knights sent to fight a Western dragon that did not exist.

Manganiello's tattoo covers scars from a mystery illness that left him with a stoma bag. Joe Manganiello/ Instagram “The soldiers would then punch holes throughout my body when they couldn’t find an enemy,” he wrote. His tattoo reverses that image.

This time, he chose an Eastern dragon to represent himself, hoping it would remind his body to stop attacking him. The True Blood alum first opened up in June about the mysterious autoimmune illness he had battled privately for seven years. He suffered debilitating abdominal pain, fevers, and rashes, yet doctors never arrived at a definitive diagnosis.

Joe Manganiello posted a photo of himself at the hospital from when he was battling a mystery illness. Instagram/Joe Manganiello In 2016, his condition became so severe that he underwent what he described as an “11th-hour emergency life-saving surgery.” Doctors “split me open and cut my entire large intestine,” Manganiello recalled in an interview with CBS Pittsburgh last week.

He was fitted with an ostomy bag that doctors initially thought might be permanent. An ostomy bag collects waste through a surgically created opening in the abdomen called a stoma, according to the Cleveland Clinic . Joe Manganiello attends the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills during the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.

DANNY MOLOSHOK/REUTERS Manganiello wore the bag for seven months before undergoing another operation to reconnect his digestive tract. Last Thursday, the actor shared graphic hospital photos revealing the physical toll of his illness , including a picture of his dramatically thinner frame following surgery.

“In the days following the amputation of my large intestine, my weight began to plummet,” he wrote on Instagram , revealing that he lost 60 pounds in just two weeks. Another photo showed his abdomen after the surgery to reconnect his digestive tract, while a third revealed the severe facial rashes that plagued him throughout his illness.

Manganiello showed a facial rash covering his entire face. Instagram/Joe Manganiello He has been sharing pieces of his story as his new memoir, Bloodlines , was released this month. The book also explores his marriage to ex-wife Sofía Vergara—including attributing the end of their seven-year marriage to his illness—and what he learned about his family’s history with autoimmune disorders.

While his health has since improved, the actor told Entertainment Weekly that the experience left permanent reminders. “There are remnants from the surgeries and procedures that I have to live with, but I don’t complain about them because life is manageable,” he said. Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello filed for divorce in 2023 after four years of marriage.

DANNY MOLOSHOK/REUTERS Manganiello said he has found a new appreciation for ordinary moments, describing the pleasure of walking his dog, smelling the grass, and waving to his neighbors. He said those simple pleasures now remind him every morning of how far he has come. Although he would never choose to repeat the ordeal, he is hoping for a calmer future.

“I can’t believe I got through it,” he said. “It was a hell of a first half of life, and I hope the second half is a little more peaceful.”