It’s been less than a year since Sofía Vergara and Joe Manganiello announced that they planned to divorce after seven years of marriage, sharing in a statement that “Sofía and Joe have been growing apart for a while now and are taking some distance from each other to contemplate their future” and asking for privacy. In the wake of the announcement, Vergara was vocal about the impetus behind their split: Manganiello wanted a baby, Vergara did not.
Now, she has doubled down on her stance in an interview with People published Wednesday, agreeing that being public about not wanting more kids and how that impacted her relationship feels “empowering,” and that it wouldn’t have been “fair” to have another child with Manganiello.
“There’s things in life that might sound like good ideas, but they’re not,” she said. “I was a mother already. I know what it means to be a good mother or to try to be the best mother that you can, and that takes a lot of sacrifices, takes a lot of energy.”
Vergara had her first child, Manolo, when she was 19 with her ex-husband Joe Gonzalez. Now approaching her 52nd birthday in July, she said that even with science making pregnancy physically possible for older women, she’s not interested. “There is a reason why nature is doing that.”
“But that’s for me, and I totally respect where anyone wants to be a mom after 50,” she said. “I didn’t think because of my career, the way I live my life, the way my marriage was, that it was fair to bring a kid to this world, and I’m not going to be able to give 100 percent.”
She said that she can’t wait to be a grandmother, and that she “kind of grew up together with my son,” who is now 32. Motherhood, she said, is “an experience that’s unique. It changes you, and it’s very rewarding and gives you a lot of headaches too.”
Vergara was also candid about the difficulty of dating, and listed the qualities she’s looking for: “Health. Money. Fun. With kids. That’s it. That’s all I want.”
And there’s just one deal-breaker for her: “No more kids.”